


you two would look so cute together

by kireinayuta



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Bad Boy Lee Jeno, Blow Jobs, Bottom Na Jaemin, Boys in Chains, Boys in Skirts, Cute Na Jaemin, Exhibitionism, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Falling In Love, First Time, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Hand Jobs, Huang Ren Jun & Na Jaemin Are Best Friends, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan & Lee Jeno Are Best Friends, Lee Jeno is Whipped, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Na Jaemin is Whipped, Na Jaemin-centric, Past Mark Lee/Lee Jeno - Freeform, Recreational Drug Use, Sassy Na Jaemin, Skater Lee Jeno, Strangers to Lovers, Sweet Lee Jeno, Thigh Holsters, TikTok, Top Lee Jeno, cocky lee jeno, cross dressing, for a little bit though, jaemin does makeup, jaemin has pretty outfits, jeno loves nana’s thighs, past homophobia, the best of friends, the bestest of friends, thigh fucking, thigh riding, tiktok au, tiktok stars nomin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:40:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 71,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27763135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kireinayuta/pseuds/kireinayuta
Summary: TikTok stars soft boy Jaemin and fuck boy Jeno have been getting shipped for months on the internet, but things get worse when they find out they attend the same university.They start making videos together for clout, but somewhere along the way, looks start to linger and feelings start to get real.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 38
Kudos: 723
Collections: The light of my life





	1. one

"Have you seen Jeno's new post?"

Has he seen Jeno's new post?

_Has he seen Jeno's new post?_

Jaemin knows the answer, he knows Renjun knows the answer, so the only thing he doesn't know is why Renjun bothers asking. 

"No," he answers, poking his fork in whatever lunch he was eating. Truthfully, he wasn't interested in what was on his plate, choosing to focus more on the makeup tutorial playing on his phone. 

If he wasn't even interested in the food placed directly in front of him, then he definitely wasn't interested in whatever post belonged to Jeno. 

"What? Why not? People have been tagging you in the comments."

Renjun brings up the same questions every time, uses the same argument every time. And truthfully speaking, Renjun is a genius. He's super smart and capable, witty and technical, so Jaemin doesn't know why he fails to recall that,

"I have my TikTok notifications off," Jaemin sighs, answering the same question with the same answer for the nth time. "I don't even look at his posts anyway, it doesn't matter."

Renjun lets out a gasp so scandalous, you might as well have thought that Jaemin murdered his entire family. 

Theatrics, Renjun was full of them. 

"How can you not? The entirety of TikTok is begging you to—"

Jaemin manages to shut him with a singular raised eyebrow, watching as Renjun frowns at him, clearly not liking how Jaemin wasn't interested in what he's saying. 

"I don't care. It's nothing new," 

"People are saying your pink hair would look cute with his blond hair," Renjun explains, despite Jaemin's blatant show of un-interest. 

And then, Jaemin pauses his video, and looks up at Renjun. 

"Jeno's hair isn't blond."

Jaemin doesn't keep up with Jeno's posts, nor does he follow the latter either. Sometimes, he just comes up on his 'for you page', or depending on the comment he receives, Jaemin will check out what the video is. 

But every time he's done that, he's noticed that Jeno had a mop of brown sitting atop of his head. 

Why was Renjun saying he was blond?

"That's what the video's about, dummy," his friend sighs, clicking his tongue and answering Jaemin's unverbalized question. 

Renjun shoves his phone into Jaemin's face without any further prompting, and Jaemin has no choice but to watch the fifteen second video that shows Jeno heading to the salon, sitting in a styling chair and getting his hair bleached and toned. The final frame is around three second of him posing in the mirror and showing off his new hair, while the caption is simply a smiley emoji. 

Jaemin is about to hand Renjun his phone back with no comment, it's not like it's something he hasn't seen before, in some variation or another, but something in the video catches his eye before he can.

"Is that... Is that in the business building?" 

Renjun becomes intrigued by Jaemin's question, getting up to sit beside him as he looks at what Jaemin is trying to show him. 

Surprisingly, it is the business building he recognizes from their campus, a simple twenty minute walk from where they are now. 

"Don't tell me..." Renjun gapes, but Jaemin already knows they're thinking the same thing. There's no other viable explanation.

"The whole fucking time," Jaemin sighs, frustratedly throwing Renjun's phone back at him. "I better not see him a damn day. I've gone two years without this, I can go for longer."

Renjun also thinks it's peculiar how they've never bumped into each other, even Renjun hadn’t seen Jeno around school. But he guesses their majors could be very different, if this was the case. 

“What do you think he studies? With the money you two rake in, he doesn’t need to get a job anytime soon,” Renjun asks, which makes Jaemin shift a bit uncomfortably in his chair. 

He doesn’t like talking about money like this, but he thinks it’s rude if he doesn’t answer his friend’s question. 

“Who cares,” he mumbles, picking at his food once again. He’s lost interest in the makeup tutorial playing on his phone, opting to shut it off all together. 

“I do,” Renjun deadpans, looking down at his phone and watching the short video again. “I want to know. What if he has cute friends too? We could have double dates!” 

“Why are you talking about him and his friends like I’m interested?” Jaemin spits, willing Renjun to shut up in his head so that he doesn’t lose his appetite too. 

“Because you’re common ground. I can’t just walk up to his cute friend without you, you know. That’d be weird.” 

“Oh, I love being a ploy,” Jaemin sneers, rolling his eyes at Renjun when the other grins happily. “Count me out.”

That seems to successfully gather Renjun’s attention, seeing as he stops grinning giddily. 

“What?” He shrieks, grabbing more unwanted attention than usual. What can Jaemin say? He tends to get looks wherever he goes, and he wouldn’t say Renjun is tough on the eyes either. “There’s no plan without you!” 

“That’s the point,” he answers, rolling his eyes again for what feels like the nth time. “Can’t you just be a normal person? And like, stalk his friends' socials before messaging them?” 

When Jaemin says it out loud, he realizes how weird it actually is, but he doesn’t take it back. It wouldn’t be the first time Renjun decided to make a move that way, anyway. 

“Jaemin, we have to move past that,” Renjun starts seriously, and the younger already knows he’s going to go off on a rant about how people need to start interacting face to face more. 

Sometimes, Jaemin wonders if he really did befriend a grandpa who’s in the body of a twenty some year old, but he rather not think about that too much. 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Jaemin brushes off, waving his hand dismissively and reluctantly going back to his food. He knows he’ll regret it if he doesn’t eat now, so he might as well. “Can we just talk about the homework answers? I couldn’t get number four—”

Jaemin never gets to finish his sentence, because Renjun isn’t listening to him anymore. 

Instead, he’s looking at something behind Jaemin, or rather, _someone,_ when he hears voices coming closer and closer from behind him. Renjun’s mouth is hanging open, and while Jaemin wants to see if this is someone of Renjun’s interest, he also doesn’t appreciate how quiet the cafeteria around them has become. 

Why is everyone suddenly so silent? 

When Jaemin looks past just Renjun, he sees that there are multiple people looking at him, and someone behind him. 

Despite being used to stares, this is something else entirely, with the atmosphere so quiet. Jaemin even sees some people take out their phones, and despite his curiosity, he’s nervous. 

Who’s behind him, to elicit such a reaction? 

Well, all his questions get answered rather quickly. 

The chair beside Jaemin screeches as it’s pulled back, louder than usual thanks to the silence of the cafeteria. He’s still looking at Renjun, but with the eyes of a stranger burning holes into the side of his face, Jaemin knows he has to turn around and see who it is. 

Especially since whoever it is, has rendered Renjun speechless. And that was an incredibly difficult feat, no matter who you were. 

“Na Jaemin,” the voice beside him calls, and weirdly enough, Jaemin doesn’t have to be looking to catch the smile in the voice. 

However, he does recognize the voice. 

And now it makes sense, why Renjun is speechless, why the cafeteria is so quiet, why everyone was looking at him, and why some people even had their phones out. 

Because it’s not just _someone_ next to Jaemin. 

It’s a boy. 

Who wears a lot of black clothes,

Usually has rings on his fingers,

Sometimes he even has a cigarette between his lips,

It’s someone with bleached blond hair. 

“Lee Jeno,” 

Jaemin wills himself to turn around then, because he feels like he’s being dramatic if he doesn’t. 

Sure, he doesn’t really like Jeno, but he also doesn’t really know Jeno. He agrees that it’s quite unnecessary, having a grudge against someone he knows nothing about, especially since Jaemin knows better than anyone that the internet can be quite misleading. 

Still, he can’t help the sour look of distaste on his face when he finally sees Jeno sitting next to him, clad in black like he expected, rings adorning his fingers, like he expected. 

But what he doesn’t expect is the smile on his face when he looks up, the one that curves his eyes into crescent moons. 

Jaemin has seen the eyes on the internet multiple times. 

But he’s never seen them up close like this.

“They were right,” Jeno says happily, his smile never falling from his face, even as he tilts his head to the side. He rakes his eyes over Jaemin, and the latter would’ve felt exposed if he wasn't fixated on the way Jeno’s floppy and newly blond hair falls into his eyes. “You really do go here.” 

He’s snapped out of his thoughts about Jeno’s hair at that, it’s probably fried anyways, and makes a show of his confusion by furrowing his eyebrows.

_Who was right?_

“What?” he asks dumbly, feeling heat rush to his cheeks when someone snorts. 

Jaemin only throws a brief glance to where the sound came from, only to recognize the boy from some of Jeno’s videos. 

It’s his best friend, Lee Donghyuck. 

“Someone commented on my video about my hair,” Jeno explains casually, like he’s had multiple conversations with Jaemin before this. “They said the bathroom looks like the one at their school. Then a whole thread started about you going here too, and— And I found you.”

Jaemin admits, it sounds creepy when Jeno says it like that. But after all, it’s not like it was Jeno’s fault, he was just reading comments. Jaemin knows better than anyone that the comments get weird after a while, and despite not wanting to read them, you simply can’t tear your eyes away. 

He guesses this was a similar situation. 

He has half the mind to empathize, but his brain doesn’t even ponder that idea for too long before he opens his mouth and says,

“Looking for me, were you? A bit obsessive, don’t you think?” 

Out of all the reactions he could’ve garnered from Jeno, he certainly hadn’t expected it to be his smile broadening. 

“It’s a little hard to ignore the internet’s chosen love interest for me,” Jeno eventually answers, still talking with an air of nonchalance, like this was just another conversation to be had on a Wednesday afternoon. “And you _do_ stand out a bit. A little sad I hadn’t seen you sooner.”

Jaemin resists the urge to roll his eyes, well aware of how many eyes and cameras were still on him. He didn’t want to give off the wrong impression, especially when he doesn’t even know what he’s really feeling. 

Annoyed? Maybe.

Surprised? A little.

Hungry? Definitely. 

“We study two completely different things,” Jaemin says haughtily, ignoring the amused glance from Donghyuck in his peripheral. 

Jaemin doesn’t even want to get started on him, despite not knowing a thing about him. All he assumes is that he’s like Jeno, because that’s all he’s seen on the off occasion he’s in a video. 

“And how do you know what I study?” Jeno questions, one of his eyebrows cocked up inquisitively. 

Jaemin wishes he could’ve held his tongue, regretting saying that the second it slipped from his mouth. 

“That bathroom was in the business building,” Jaemin says easily, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. And it is, even some of Jeno’s local followers noticed it, so who’s to say Jaemin couldn’t have noticed it too? 

Exactly. No one. 

But Jaemin seemed to skip over one small detail—

“You saw my video?” 

That’s all it takes for the childlike grin to fall off Jeno's face, and for the telltale smirk he recalls from his videos to take its place instead. 

He was going to _murder_ Renjun. 

He _told_ him he didn't want to see the damn video in the first place. 

  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


Jaemin doesn’t get rid of Jeno after that, much to his chagrin. 

If anything, now that Jeno knows where Jaemin is, he doesn’t leave him alone. It wouldn’t have been as big of a problem if Renjun hadn’t told Jeno his schedule. 

Jaemin got mad at him for that, justifiably so, and his irritation only grew tenfold when Renjun said he only gave Jeno his schedule because he promised Donghyuck’s number in return. 

The things Renjun does for cute boys, really… 

Jaemin tries his very best to take alternative routes just so that he doesn’t have to see Jeno every corner he turns, but there are only so many ways to get to class. He has to relent sooner than later, because he can’t afford to be late to all his classes because he doesn’t want to see Jeno. 

He also has no idea how Jeno even has the time to keep a look out for him, doesn’t he have classes himself? Where does he get all this free time, seriously?

But Jaemin would have to admit that the absolute worst part would be that Jeno had made a cryptic tweet about how he met Jaemin, which, naturally, put the internet in shambles for a few hours. While there are no more shambles now, his comments and Twitter mentions are constantly flooded with questions about Jeno. 

He wishes he could throw his phone out the window, but he knows that’s not really rational. 

What is rational though, is ignoring everything, and proceeding to post on his socials like nothing has happened. If Jaemin didn’t want to talk about it, then he didn’t have to. He also didn’t want to feed into what everyone is probably thinking, especially after the months of being spoken and theorized about together. 

At the end of the day though, Renjun is definitely on thin ice. 

“Look at this—”

Jaemin shuts him up effectively with a simple glare, and since Renjun knows he’s not really Jaemin’s favourite person in the world right now, he’s smart about it and stays quiet.

“Or don’t…” He says softly, nodding his head and putting his phone down. “You don’t have to look…”

Jaemin would feel bad for Renjun, he’s literally on the cusp of sighing and apologizing for his sour behaviour, but then someone pulls a chair out next to him like three days ago, and Jaemin suddenly sees red all over again. 

“Good morning,” Jeno greets dreamily, voice a bit higher than his usual one. He rests his head on his palm as he watches Jaemin, looking only at him with a dopey grin on his face. 

If Jaemin looks at him for long enough, he knows he’s going to want to punch the grin off of his face, and this was a library, so he looks away before he can do something he’ll regret.

Jaemin notices, when Jeno doesn’t leave and stays to watch him do his work, that Jeno smells faintly of weed. 

It makes Jaemin’s stomach clench so early in the morning. Honestly, it’s only 9:45am, when did Jeno even get the energy to smoke? 

Feeling his last strand of patience run thin, Jaemin packs up his things in record time, silently appreciating how Renjun does so as well without any questions. He probably knows why anyways. Or maybe he feels guilty. Jaemin doesn’t know, all he knows is that he’s glad. 

“Where are you going?” Jeno asks, a frown prominent on his face. When Jaemin looks down at him after standing up, his blond hair looks shaggy and unkempt, while his flannel looks wrinkled. 

Jaemin scrunches his nose. 

“Away from you,” he answers simply, proceeding to turn his back to Jeno and walk away. Renjun follows beside him, and Jaemin really does feel bad now. Maybe Renjun wanted to study or something, maybe he was actually doing something important. 

Jaemin sighs, and waits until they’re outside of the library to ask,

“Do you want coffee or something? You’ve made me feel guilty all morning with your quietness,” Jaemin teases, glad to see Renjun smiling when he’s caught onto the tone in his voice. 

“Just because you’re offering, we should get breakfast before our first class. We still have an hour to kill.” 

Jaemin nods his head at that, the thought of breakfast being appealing. 

It doesn’t take long to choose a place to eat, and it takes an even shorter time for Renjun to order enough for three people, just for himself. He may be small in stature, but Jaemin is convinced there’s more than one stomach in Renjun’s body. 

They walk towards the building their class will be held in, talking amicably for the first time in a few days. 

Jaemin reminds himself that there’s no point in holding a grudge against Renjun, he ends up feeling guilty and relenting too soon for there to be a real impact. 

“—and I really am sorry, I hope you know,” Renjun says after telling him a story about his cousin. “I didn’t think it would bother you this much, and I guess I just really wanted Donghyuck’s number,

Renjun admits the last part shyly, and while Jaemin has a burning desire to tease him about it, he decides to spare Renjun after the turmoil he put him through the past few days. 

“Tell me about him,” he says softly instead, sipping on his coffee when he sees the whipped look on Renjun’s face. He didn’t want to laugh and upset his friend, but how was he expected not to when he looks so, absolutely, _smitten_ by a boy he’s been talking to for three days. “You’ve been texting, right?”

“Oh, Nana, he’s so cute,” Renjun gushes, and Jaemin tries to remember the last time he’s seen Renjun smile this broadly. In the end, he comes to the conclusion that he doesn’t think he has. And they’ve been friends since freshman year of highschool. “He sends me selfies when I ask— I rarely see him around on campus. And I asked if I could count his moles— Nana, he has _so many_!”

Jaemin thinks it’s amusing how Renjun is talking about Donghyuck like he’s never met someone with moles, which is funny because Jaemin has a few of his own. 

“Oh, isn’t that lovely,” Jaemin coos, trying to make sure he isn’t really making fun of Renjun, but still letting him know he’s teasing. “That’s a cute date. Counting moles.”

“I have moles,”

Jaemin has to resist the urge to throw his coffee all over the owner of the voice who’s made their way next to him again. 

“Go away,” Jaemin grits out through clenched teeth, picking up his pace. Renjun keeps up, but when Jaemin throws him a glance, he looks amused. 

Now Jaemin is resisting the urge to throw his coffee at him. 

“Do you know how hard it was for me to find you? You can’t just send me off like this,” Jeno complains, also picking up his pace and walking next to Jaemin. 

“I didn’t _ask_ you to find me,” Jaemin argues, sending a glare Jeno’s way. “Go away before someone takes a picture and misinterprets it,” he says.

“I know you didn’t ask,” Jeno says as he rolls his eyes, following Jaemin even after the latter takes a sharp turn trying to throw him off. “And I like it when people take my picture.”

Jaemin audibly clicks his tongue at that, and he briefly wonders if Jeno can see the grimace on his face. 

Jaemin hates it when people take his picture without his knowledge, but to each their own, he guesses. 

He’s about to reach the entrance to the building his class is held in, and just when he thinks he can get an escape from this, just when he thinks he can ditch Jeno under the guise of going to class, a hand from behind him comes out to put a palm on the door, keeping it closed. 

Jaemin desperately wishes it was a ‘push’ door. 

“I need to talk to you,” Jeno says quietly, and it’s only when Jaemin hears the other’s voice that he realizes how closely pressed to his back Jeno is. His voice sounds a bit deep and raspy in his ear, and Jaemin wonders if he’d gotten enough sleep the night before. 

“I have a class to get to,” Jaemin says coldly, glaring at Jeno. “And you’re holding people up.”

Jeno sighs, letting his hand fall from the door. 

“It’ll be quick,” 

Jaemin rolls his eyes, feeling the vein in his forehead throb. 

It doesn’t look like Jeno is going to let up about this any time soon, so Jaemin looks at Renjun apologetically. However, it probably doesn’t have an effect, since Renjun looks more amused than anything else. 

“Save me a seat,” Jaemin grumbles, turning back to Jeno. “Five minutes.”

Jeno grins again, the same dopey way he did in the library, and Jaemin sees that his teeth are really white. 

Not that he thought they wouldn’t be… 

They’re just _really_ sparkly clean. 

“Awesome,” Jeno sighs, grabbing Jaemin’s wrist before the latter even knows what’s happening. 

Jaemin’s voice of protest dies down in his throat when he realizes how much bigger Jeno’s hands are compared to his, his fingers wrapping around his wrist and then some. He wonders if all boys his age have hands this big, because he knows that he and Renjun certainly don’t. 

Jaemin is dragged to a quiet hallway while he’s busy thinking about Jeno’s hands, realizing where they are when Jeno finally lets go.

There’s a large window on their right side, where Jaemin sees students either walking to their classes or resting and doing homework on the benches and picnic tables. He’d rather be doing either of those things instead of being stuck here with Lee Jeno, who still hasn’t said anything. 

When Jaemin looks over at him, he’s just staring at him. 

“What?” Jaemin asks. “I know you didn’t bring me here to stare at me.”

The corner of Jeno’s lips twitch into a slight smile at his words, as his arms cross across his chest. 

“I have an idea,” he starts, never taking his eyes off of Jaemin’s face. 

“I already don’t like the sound of this,” Jaemin mumbles, taking a sip from his coffee to distract himself. As the liquid passes down his throat, he vaguely mourns how the rest of his breakfast is up in the lecture hall with Renjun. 

“Have you ever had a business partner?” Jeno asks, catching Jaemin off guard with the wording of his question. It must show on his face, because Jeno chuckles before speaking again. “Think about it; if we started posting videos and pictures together.”

Jaemin picks up quite quickly on what Jeno is saying, and he immediately shakes his head. 

“I don’t need more people looking at me, I’m grateful for what I have right now. And I’m not really looking for more.” 

Jeno shakes his head at what Jaemin says though, not even letting the thought sit for more than three seconds. Jaemin would be lying if he said he isn’t surprised by how fast Jeno’s brain is capable of formulating a response. 

He guesses that’s also kind of rude, huh?

“What do you do with everything you earn? You pay for school, don’t you?” 

Jaemin flinches at Jeno’s words, wondering how he knows that. Jaemin thinks he’s mentioned it once, and he doesn’t even remember when it was that he did. 

“How do you know that?”

“Why wouldn’t I know that? I follow you,” Jeno answers, like it was the simplest answer in the world. Jaemin guesses that in another world, it might’ve been.

“So what if I pay for school?” Jaemin asks, coming back to the topic at hand. Was Jeno making fun of him for paying his tuition on his own?

“I’m just saying it’d be easier if you had more coming in, wouldn’t it?” Jeno says innocently, his hands up in surrender, as if he caught onto Jaemin’s accusatory tone. Jaemin thinks he did. “And it’s not like it’d be _hard_ either. A TiktTok maybe once or twice a week, maybe an Instagram post every two weeks. It’s win-win situation.”

The way Jeno says it, it sounds convincing. Jaemin has a creeping suspicion he’s learned how to sound so persuasive from his business classes, but admits that he does end up entertaining Jeno’s proposal for a while. 

Jeno isn’t necessarily… Wrong… But—

“I don’t want to use you,” Jaemin scowls. “That’s dirty.”

Jeno raises an eyebrow at his words, stretching out an arm and grabbing Jaemin’s coffee right out from his hands. When he brings it back to himself, Jaemin sees the sleeves of his flannel have slightly passed his fingertips. 

He wonders if it’s even his, with how loose it fits.

Jaemin thinks it looks cute.

“Who said you’re using me?” Jeno asks, his eyebrow still arched. “We’re friends now.”

He emphasizes his statement by taking a sip of Jaemin’s coffee, maintaining eye contact the whole time as he does. 

When he hands the cup back, Jaemin grimaces. 

“Keep it. Please.”

Though internally, he mourns the loss of his coffee. 

“Really? Thanks, new best friend!” 

_And_ the loss of his sanity.

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


“It’s quite easy, actually. You take the _3xyz_ variable and factor it out. You have to mind the signs, and make sure your calculator is set into radians, or else you’ll have to start over.” 

“That doesn’t even make any sense.”

“Is it my fault, you chose a math course?” 

“Is it my fault you just spoke an entire different _language_?” 

Donghyuck is exasperated by the time he throws a pencil at Jeno, and the latter is surprised that he hadn’t done that sooner. He kind of expected it, with Donghyuck’s limited patience when it comes to dumbing things down for him.

It’s almost everyday that Jeno wonders how Donghyuck survives as a maths major, but he’s also kind of proud of his best friend. It’s not everyone who can deal with the headache numbers produce. 

Which is why, all in all, through all his irritation for Donghyuck, and through every time he’s annoyed with him, through every time he does something stupid, Donghyuck is brilliantly intelligent. 

But it’s weird, because even if he holds Donghyuck’s brain on a glorified pedestal, he still ignores what he said about the deal he made with Jaemin. 

Maybe Donghyuck just wasn’t socially intelligent, and only had a knack for numbers. 

Maybe he also ignored Donghyuck when he started talking about the true benefits of the monthly income money, but that's besides the point. 

The point is that Donghyuck is going to kill Jeno for what he does and says next. 

But he’s prepared for that. He hasn’t dealt with Donghyuck for the better part of eight years to be weak now. 

“Where are you going?” Donghyuck asks, expectedly, suspiciously when he starts packing his books and papers. “We’re not done here. You’re going to fail your test—”

“Quite contrarily, my beautiful friend, we are exactly that. Done,”

“Is it a business major’s job to speak so complicatedly?” Donghyuck spits, glaring at him when Jeno doesn’t proceed to explain anything else and simply continues to pack. “Answer my question!” 

“I’m going to see Jaemin,” Jeno says awkwardly, avoiding Donghyuck’s eyes as he swings his backpack over his shoulders. 

He can practically feel Donghyuck’s eyes boring into him, but doesn’t look at him in favour of avoiding the confrontation.

Jeno is very good at that, he’s learned. 

“And why, may I ask,” Donghyuck starts finally, standing up from the desk they were both sitting at and making his way over to Jeno. He kind of has half the mind to run away before Donghyuck can ask further questions, but he still has his dignity. Even if it was almost always nonexistent. “Are you going to see Jaemin?” 

Jeno decides in this moment that his shoes are the most interesting thing on the planet, finding himself lost between the creases. 

That is, until Donghyuck’s own shoes step right into his field of view, reminding him of the topic at hand. 

“To make a video,” Jeno admits weakly, shrugging his shoulders and finally looking up at Donghyuck’s face. _Oh, he looks a bit upset._ “Maybe take a picture for Instagram.”

Donghyuck’s expression of being upset leaves his face as soon as it has appeared, and it briefly makes Jeno wonder how he can switch up so quickly. But then he remembers that this is Donghyuck, and that he doesn’t really ask questions when it comes to Donghyuck anymore. 

“Oh, you conniving bastard,” Donghyuck says as he shakes his head distastefully, clicking his tongue. “There’s not a thing you do that makes sense, is there?” 

“When you out it like that, it makes it seem like you have no faith in me, Hyuckie,” Jeno pouts, bending down to tie his shoelaces. 

“I don’t,” Donghyuck deadpans. “It’d be like if I let a toddler out into the real world.” 

Donghyuck’s words would hurt if Jeno hadn’t heard them a million times before, and if he didn’t know Donghyuck loved him at the end of the day. 

“I think I’ll be okay,” Jeno assures, in attempts to soothe Donghyuck’s worries, and to be able to leave sooner. He didn’t want to be late on Jaemin already, that was an impression he wasn’t too keen on setting. 

He already wasn't Jaemin’s favourite, he didn’t need to add onto that. 

“I think you’ll do something dumb,” Donghyuck argues with no sugar, and this time, Jeno rolls his eyes without regret. “Or get yourself into something sticky again.”

“You know what? If that happens, I’ll buy you lunch for a week,” Jeno finally says, deciding to settle this once and for all. “And if nothing goes wrong in the next three days, you buy me lunch for a week.” 

Donghyuck looks contemplative for a few seconds, before he lets a smug grin onto his face. 

“Sure. You’re gonna be the one at loss anyways.”

  
  
  


Jeno thankfully makes it to Jaemin on time, letting himself into a seminar room they’ve booked for all reasons but doing homework. 

Not that anyone needed to know that, of course. 

As he walks in, he sees Jaemin already sitting there waiting for him, one notebook out in front of him while doodling with a pen. 

Jeno thinks he looks rather serene like this, his head resting on his palm with his pink bangs falling into his eyes. The sweater he’s wearing also looks like it’s comfortable, a turquoise blue colour which compliments his hair nicely. 

It seems he hadn’t heard Jeno come in, if the Airpods in his ears are anything to go, so Jeno seizes the opportunity and pulls a chair up right in front of him. 

The sudden movement in Jaemin’s peripheral effectively garners his attention, snapping his head and coming face to face with Jeno’s smiley eyes.

“Hey,” Jeno greets, waiting patiently as Jaemin takes his Airpods out. In the meantime, he catches sight of what Jaemin was doodling. “That’s a nice drawing.”

Jaemin looks down at what he’d been mindlessly doing, looking up and down between Jeno’s face and the sketch of flowers. 

“Thanks,” he mutters, closing the notebook shut right after, and tossing it and his pencil back into his backpack. “Let’s get this over with,” he sighs, pulling his phone out and standing up from his chair. 

It’s then, that Jeno sees the rest of his outfit. 

The turquoise sweater, who’s sleeves pass his fingertips, is tucked into a white pleated skirt. 

This isn’t something Jeno hasn’t seen before, he’s seen Jaemin’s videos and everything. 

Jaemin always posts makeup and clothing videos, so Jeno has seen his fair share of elegant and extravagant makeup looks on the other, as well as clothes ranging between everything from baggy track pants to mini skirts.

But he’s never seen Jaemin wear any of those outfits in person. He hasn’t _anyone_ wear these outfits in person, point blank. 

To say Jaemin looked good would be an understatement, but it’d also be something Jaemin already knew. He had quite the fashion sense. 

“Staring is rude,” Jaemin quips, ripping Jeno out of his thoughts about how _long_ Jaemin’s legs are. “Don’t you know that?” 

Jaemin walks around to find somewhere to prop his phone after he says that, and it has Jeno following not too soon after. 

“Looking that good in a skirt is rude,” he says back, trying very hard to keep his eyes away from looking lower than Jaemin’s waist. He wasn’t a _creep_ , after all. “Don’t you know?”

“I’ve heard that one before, you’re not original,” Jaemin says, annoyed. He rolls his eyes when Jeno comes into frame with him on the phone screen, but leaves it be after that. From this position, they’re both seen. “What are we filming?”

Jeno smirks at the question, looking back up at Jaemin’s face. 

“Well… We are alone… And I can only imagine how easy a skirt would be—”

“Jeno!” Jaemin shrieks, cheeks flaming red as he looks at the other scandalously. 

All Jeno does is cackle loudly, finding Jaemin’s tomato cheeks even more amusing than his reaction. 

“I’m only kidding, doll, don’t worry about it,” he says after he’s calmed down, wiping a tear away from his eye for dramatic effect. “I don’t kiss before the first date.”

“Good to know,” Jaemin deadpans, hoping his face isn’t as hot as it feels. He crosses his arms over his chest, and raises an expectant eyebrow at Jeno. “Now if you don’t have an idea, like you said you’d have, I’d like to say this is a right waste of time.” 

“Now, now,” Jeno protests, his hands coming up by his head. “I didn’t even get to say anything yet. I have an idea, you know? This dance,” he says as he pulls his phone out, queueing up a video to show Jaemin. “It’s trending right now, and it’ll be perfect.”

Reluctantly, Jaemin takes a few steps closer to Jeno to watch the video, and while he thinks the dance is ridiculous (because he doesn’t _dance_ on his page, God no), he still agrees to it because he himself doesn’t have many ideas. 

He also wants to get this over with as soon as possible, but that was something completely different. 

It seems like Jeno is more familiar with the dance than he is, teaching Jaemin the steps until he’s adequate enough. Jaemin doesn’t know why Jeno already knows the steps, maybe it’s because he doesn’t really know what Jeno does on his page. So far, he’s only seen the older boy participate in things that are trending, and while that wasn’t an issue, Jaemin wonders if he even has something he specializes in on his page. 

But that could be something for another time, because right now, Jeno is setting the timer on Jaemin’s phone before scrambling back into position, and while Jaemin is flushed with embarrassment when their backs meet at the beginning of the dance, since he knows Jeno more than enjoys the feeling of his ass bumping against the back of his thighs, he wills that embarrassment down in favour of getting this over with. 

He’s also really resisting the urge to actually punch Jeno in the face at one point, when they’re fake punching the air between them. Something about the joyous smile on Jeno’s face just makes him punchable, or maybe it’s that paired with the smirk on his face and the way his blond hair falls into his eyes messily. 

Or maybe Jaemin’s just a bad person and can’t stand him. 

Either way, he’s glad the first take is finished, and that there was only one more to go. 

“You look good,” Jeno mumbles under his breath, and Jaemin thinks he thinks he didn’t hear, since Jeno isn’t looking at him. Instead, he props up his own phone and cues up the audio and sets up the video. 

“I always look good,” Jaemin bites back, letting Jeno know he heard him. He doesn’t think catching him off guard does anything though, since Jeno just looks back at him and smirks. 

“Glad you know it doll, confidence looks great on you.” 

Jeno is absolutely infuriating, and it makes Jaemin wonder if he’s always like this, or if there are some times where he’s tolerable. 

Jaemin huffs and simply stands in his position, waiting for Jeno to set the timer so that they can start. He also pointedly ignores the way Jeno smirks at him, and wills himself to keep it together.

Jeno was right at the end of the day, when he said this would rake in an amicable income. He didn’t like to think he was in this solely for the money, because Jaemin genuinely enjoys the content he makes. But money can make a man mad, and he’s in desperate need of it. He can’t fuck this up now, not before they’ve even started. 

Jeno jogs to his spot just as the music sounds through the room, and Jaemin plasters a smile onto his face just in time. Just like the last time, Jeno looks cocky and smiley, and Jaemin hates it. 

Deep inside, he truly begins to think he’s a bit of a bad person for having such a grudge on someone he hasn’t even known for an entire week. And for what? Because the internet has been relentless for months because they think they’ll look cute together? Because of the way Jeno dresses? Because he doesn’t know anything about him? Because Renjun told him Jeno’s hair was blond when he thought it was brown? 

He doesn’t know what it is exactly, maybe he’s being a hypocrite, but it’s something he needs to figure out on his own. Jaemin knows his fair share of people who were biggoted and absolutely rude and stupid for no reason, and he wasn’t too keen on becoming one of those people himself. 

Jaemin is so lost in his thoughts about this whole ordeal, that he doesn’t even register that instead of the air he’s punching, it’s Jeno’s face. 

“Oh my God,” Jaemin gasps, freezing in his spot as he watches Jeno cradle a part of his face. “Jeno—”

Jaemin’s frantic call of the other’s name is completely unheard over the sound of Jeno’s laugh. 

It startles Jaemin, to find the other laughing, sounding not one ounce hurt, despite Jaemin knowing he probably feels the opposite. 

“Feisty, are you babe?” Jeno asks, keeping his head tilted up, but still looking at Jaemin with his eyes. He’s leaned back on the table, and when Jeno moves his hand a little, Jaemin can make out the blood pouring out of his nose. 

“Jeno,” Jaemin calls concernedly, quickly going to his bag and grabbing the packet of makeup wipes he has on him all the time. He doesn’t know what else to use to help Jeno, so he settles on makeup wipes being the best option. 

He makes his way back to Jeno and pushes the other boy’s hands out of the way when he tries to grab the wipes, feeling his guilty conscience creep up on him. He’s the one that’s done this, so he might as well be the one who cleans it up. 

Jaemin knew he was strong, but he didn’t know he was this capable of bruising Jeno’s nose so hard and bad to the point where it won’t stop bleeding. He’s going through his makeup wipes within seconds, and he wouldn’t be surprised if he finishes the entire pack trying to keep the blood from spilling onto anywhere. 

He doesn’t realize how close he’s standing to Jeno until he feels a hand grab his waist, pulling him even closer until he’s standing between Jeno’s legs. 

“Is that all it’s going to take? A punch to the face to have you this close?” Jeno asks, and Jaemin has half the mind to smother him with the bloody makeup wipes. But he’s better than that, or at least decides he’s going to be better than that, and simply glares at the other while purposefully using more force to press into his nose. “Ow, ow— Okay, I get it,” Jeno winces, leaving Jaemin satisfied. 

They continue in silence, and as Jaemin is busy assuring the blood has stopped pouring out of Jeno’s nose, he doesn’t say anything about the hand still on his waist. 

“I’m sorry,” Jaemin mumbles after the bleeding has relatively stopped. He doesn’t have to hold the wipe right up to Jeno’s nose anymore, instead he cleans up where the blood had smeared and run down to. 

“Don’t be,” Jeno shrugs, tapping his fingers along to a rhythm on Jaemin’s waist. “It’s not like you broke it or something,” he grins, and Jaemin wonders if the action hurts his nose. 

“Well, sorry for your nose and for being horrible,” Jaemin clarifies, dabbing Jeno’s nose gently. “It’s not really fair, especially when you’re nice to me.”

Nice? 

Is that what Jeno really was? 

Because as much as he was an insufferable flirt, he wasn’t the scum of the Earth, or rude. 

That infuriating smirk makes its way back onto Jeno’s face, and Jaemin doesn't know what exactly it is that he’ll twist in his favour, but he knows he’ll be impressed by it anyways. Jeno seems to do that a lot, and it seems like a talent to be able to twist anything anyone says into something that compliments him. 

“Oh, so now I’m Mr. Nice Guy, huh?” 

Jaemin rolls his eyes, moving his hand down and putting the last makeup wipe into the pile of all the other used ones. 

“If you’re really Mr. Nice Guy,” Jaemin starts, looking down at the disgusting pile instead of Jeno. Now that his hand isn’t there obscuring the view, he realizes just how close their faces are. “Then you won’t post that video,” he says, casting a forlorn glance to the abandoned phone still propped up. 

“Well now you’re asking too much of me,” Jeno complains innocently, looking at Jaemin with wide eyes, like he wouldn’t ever expect Jaemin to actually say that. “That’s quality right there, Jaeminnie, I can’t just _not_ use it.”

Jaemin finds it very hard to discern if Jeno is really going to use it or not. 

So as he leaves the seminar room with a handful of bloody makeup wipes he needs to throw away, he can only hope for the best. 

And that in itself was gambling, when it came to Lee Jeno. 

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


Jaemin should’ve known that Jeno wasn’t the type of person who would do things simply because someone asked. 

He didn’t know what he was expecting, but after he had a conversation with Jeno via Instagram direct messages (after following him, of course, people would be looking for the mutual), and asked him once more not to post the mishap of their video, he thought he’d actually listen.

Jaemin was going to post his video anyway, since it wouldn’t make a difference if Jeno did post the same day or not. 

So he does, and puts his phone down before he can see the influx of notifications on all his socials, which will no doubt consist of comments about Jeno and Jeno only. 

But because of this foolishness, he doesn’t see the comments under Jeno’s new post, or the tweets asking why he punched Jeno, or the comments under his recent Instagram posts wondering if he even liked Jeno. 

That is, until Renjun comes to his dorm room, out of breath. 

“Are you insane?” Renjun asks right as he walks in, looking at Jaemin with his mouth gaping open. “Do you have no qualms?” 

“What are you talking about?” Jaemin asks confusedly, making room on his bed for Renjun to sit next to him. “You need context, Renjun, I can’t read your mind.”

“But surely you can read off of your phone, right?” Jaemin looks at Renjun quizzically, about to call him out on his rudeness, but the other is continuing before he can. “Jaemin, you punched Jeno’s face and then let him post it—”

“I did not!” Jaemin immediately intervenes, eyes wide as he hears what Renjun had said. “I’m going to _kill_ him, I told him not to,” Jaemin says frantically, too worried about what everyone’s reaction was to even let himself be completely angry. 

“Don’t look,” Renjun warns, snatching Jaemin’s phone away from him when he grabs it. It makes Jaemin even more anxious, knowing that Renjun doesn’t want him reading what people’s reactions are. “I’m sorry,” he apologizes, noting the look on Jaemin’s face. 

“No, _I’m_ sorry,” Jaemin spits, anger suddenly coming back to him full force as he takes in the forlorn look on Renjun’s face. “For putting myself here, I didn’t even want to do this, but Jeno’s fucking business major mouth, conniving _fucking_ bastard—”

“Jaemin!” Renjun gasps at Jaemin’s vulgar language, putting a hand over his mouth to shut him up and calm him down. “Holy shit, if you hate him that much—”

“I can’t stand him,” Jaemin admits when Renjun moves his hand away. “I can’t stand him, I told him not to post it,”

“I’m sure he didn’t have any malintentions,” Renjun assures, running his hand through Jaemin’s hair since he knows it calms him down. “He wouldn’t post it to make you look bad. He even captioned it _‘I’d take a hundred more bloody noses if it meant hanging out with you again.’_ ”

“That does not make things any better,” Jaemin deadpans, running his hands over his face in stress. “I’m going to kill him.” He mumbles again, abruptly standing up from his bed and slipping into shoes, not minding the stain on the sweats-shorts that he’s wearing. He slips into shoes easily, and grabs his keys before Renjun stops him with a hand on his arm. 

“Where are you going?” He alarmingly asks, clearly baffled at the unusual behaviour from Jaemin. 

“To kill him!” Jaemin yells, glaring at nothing in particular as Renjun slowly lets go of his arm. “I’m going to rip his dick off, I’m going to rearrange his face, I’m going to shove his head even _farther_ up his ass—”

“Maybe you should cool down,” Renjun cuts off rapidly, grabbing Jaemin’s hand and urging him to come back and sit down. “I don’t trust you like this.”

“I’m absolutely _not_ going to sit here and let Jeno think he’s off the hook for this!” Jaemin says, pulling his hand out of Renjun’s and sighing. “I’ll take a walk before I go find him, to cool off a little, okay? Don’t worry too much.”

Jaemin knows Renjun will worry anyways, but he doesn’t trust himself to not snap at him, so he leaves without waiting for an answer. 

He’s fuming as he stomps around and out of the residence building, not a clue towards where he could go to find Jeno. Jaemin belatedly realizes how entirely disorganized and stupid this is, but hell like he’s going to admit that. 

He whips out his phone instead, going to Jeno’s social media accounts to see if he posted something which could give away where he was. On his Instagram story, Jaemin finds a selfie uploaded three minutes ago of Jeno against the wall of what is clearly the math building. 

Jaemin huffs as he puts his phone back, making his way to the maths building and ignoring all the looks he’s getting. He probably does look very weird, with his dirty shorts and a wrinkled oversized t-shirt, and he’s sure that his socks don’t match either. His hair probably looks messy too, but the only thing on his mind is punching Jeno in the nose for real this time, so everything else is put to rest. 

The walk to the maths building isn’t far, but once he’s inside he realizes how cold the building is. He doesn’t know why, but it could be because there’s barely anyone in the building, it being quite late into the evening. 

Jaemin is mindful of how loud his footsteps are now, not wanting to disrupt the students studying in the break rooms and seminar rooms he’s passing by. He thinks he sees Donghyuck in one of them, but doesn’t think twice about it anyway.

He continues his way down the hallway, keeping his eyes peeled for the wall he saw in Jeno’s selfie. 

Jaemin turns a corner when another hallway of seminar rooms come into view, but the first one catches his attention. 

The door is left ajar, not closed all the way, which gives him access to see who’s inside without being in direct view. 

He has to resist the urge to barge in, once his eyes settle onto who is sitting inside the room. 

Jeno sits there, his phone propped up against his water bottle. Jaemin can’t see what’s on Jeno’s phone screen, but he thinks he has a pretty good idea when he hears Jeno talking, and gesticulating with his hands. 

Jeno is on live. 

This frustrates Jaemin even more, because it’s not like he could just walk in and start yelling at him. 

Well, technically speaking, he very much could, but he isn’t too keen on painting an even more negative picture of himself on the internet. 

The damage Jeno had done is enough to last his social media career a lifetime, he thinks. 

Or maybe he’s simply dramatic and things will blow over, but that’s not really where his mind is right now. Instead, his mind lingers on the way Jeno has quieted down, and is now scrolling through some of the live comments. 

“Have I eaten yet? Yes I did! Donghyuck and I went out to have soup,” he replies happily, a smile breaching onto his face that makes his eyes turn into half moons.

Jaemin thinks it’s quite unfitting, having such a lovely smile on his face while his clothes are ripped beyond shreds. Jeno’s jeans always have holes in them, that’s expected and Jaemin knows this, but it’s his shirt that also looks like it was mauled today. 

It’s a simple charcoal grey t-shirt layered over a simple black long sleeve, but the rips make the t-shirt look like it went through a paper shredder. 

Jaemin looks back up to Jeno’s face after critiquing his outfit, coming to the fair fact that he can’t possibly look any better right now, and furrows his own eyebrows when he sees a cease between Jeno’s own. 

“Why are you guys talking about Jaemin?” Jeno mumbles out loud, seeming genuinely confused as his head tilts off to one side. 

Jaemin thinks it makes him look like a confused puppy, but he quickly gets rid of that thought when he realizes he doesn’t _want_ to think of Jeno as a puppy. 

_Ew_.

Jeno suddenly gasps out of nowhere, looking awfully more stressed than he did three seconds ago. It’s a face Jaemin didn’t even know he was capable of making. 

“How can you say that about another person?” He asks, a bit over a mumble now, glaring at his phone. Jaemin has no idea what he read, but he can only assume it’s nothing good. “That is disgusting.”

Jaemin leans against the doorframe now, still making sure he isn’t visible and that he’s able to hear what’s going on. He admits he’s getting tired of standing here, but things have just gotten interesting with whatever Jeno had read, and he still has to confront him. 

“Okay, okay, okay,” Jeno exclaims, waving his hands in front of the phone and shaking his head. His eyes look wider than Jaemin has ever seen them, and he gnaws his bottom lip between his teeth in what Jaemin can only assume is anxiousness. 

Jaemin wonders what it is that he read. He finds out soon enough though, when Jeno speaks.

“What’s wrong with some of you? You can’t say that about Jaemin, he’s my friend,” he says firmly, lips set into a thin line as his eyes lose the playfulness that was in them a while ago. “And a very good one at that. He didn’t mean to punch me, it was an accident. I wouldn’t still be his friend if it were on purpose.”

Jaemin doesn’t know what to think as he takes in Jeno’s words, genuinely taken aback by how the other boy is defending his name when he isn’t even there, or when no one told him to. Jeno sounds terribly genuine and honest, and Jaemin doesn’t know what to take from it. 

“I thought it was a funny video, and he cleaned me up after that. He was sorry, but that’s not really any of your business, is it?” Jeno adds after a while, and Jaemin is taken aback, once again, by how cold his voice sounds. 

Jaemin can understand that Jeno truly didn’t have any malintentions when he posted that video, and that he seems just as upset about the repercussions as Jaemin himself is. 

Maybe he shouldn’t confront Jeno now, not after just listening to him telling off what could be hundreds and thousands of people on a livestream. 

He’s about to leave quietly, make it seem like he was never there in the first place, but that’s also the same time Jeno just so happens to look up at the doorway. 

Jaemin feels frozen in place as he watches Jeno’s eyes widen, clearly surprised to see Jaemin standing right there, staring at him. Jaemin wonders if Jeno thinks he’s heard everything, but he doesn’t have time to think about that before Jeno is turning back to face his phone, and opening his mouth. 

Jaemin couldn’t have stopped him even if he wanted to.

“Speaking of Jaemin,” he mutters, eyes flickering between the screen and Jaemin, who’s still standing by the door. “How lovely it is for him to have found me.” 

Jeno beckons Jaemin to come forward, but Jaemin shakes his head violently. 

More than facing the consequences of a rash decision to join Jeno, Jaemin didn’t need thousands of people looking at him when he looked like… _This_. 

Jaemin is always put together on the internet, and this was the last thing he needed on top of whatever was circling. 

But Jeno isn’t having any of that, getting up from his seat instead and walking over to Jaemin himself. He grabs the younger by the wrist and drags him over, while Jaemin tries very hard to stand his ground. 

“Jeno, I look horrible!” He argues, whisper-shouting so that his words don’t get picked up onto Jeno’s livestream. 

But Jeno didn’t seem to have the same concerns. 

“You always look beautiful, shut up.”

Jaemin has a headache just thinking about what the comment section of the livestream looks like. 

Jeno sits back down on the chair he was occupying, and he doesn’t let go of Jaemin’s wrist as he urges the other to come into frame. Jaemin is more firm when he refuses to move this time, but he thinks it’s a lost cause since he has a feeling everyone watching this live already has an idea of what’s happening. 

Jeno rolls his eyes after a few more seconds of Jaemin being stubborn, and Jaemin yelps when Jeno simply wraps an arm around his waist and pulls him to sit on his lap. 

Jaemin didn’t have to look at the phone screen filming in front of them to know his cheeks are an impossible shade of red. 

Why the _hell_ is he sitting on Lee Jeno’s _lap_? 

Jaemin refuses to let his eyes wander off to the comment section, and although it takes an extreme amount of willpower, he seems to be able to do it. 

He just avoids looking at the screen altogether, focusing on the clock hanging opposite of them. 

“As you can see,” Jeno finally says after some time. “Jaemin and I are perfectly amicable. Isn’t that right, darling?” 

Jaemin glares at Jeno without looking at him, and simply because he’s on camera, Jaemin nods his head. 

Jeno smiles up at him, pulling Jaemin closer until his back is against the other’s chest. Jaemin doesn’t _want_ to think about how built Jeno feels, but it’s what’s on his mind anyways. 

Jeno spends the next few minutes reading comments, and Jaemin doesn’t know what he’s still doing here. Every time he makes an attempt to get up though, Jeno always holds onto him tighter and doesn’t let him move. 

In the end, Jaemin settles on it not even being worth it to try and leave anymore. 

It’s still late, and Jaemin is starting to feel tired. The adrenaline and anger has left his body, and now he’s dead tired on his feet. Just thinking about the trek back to his dorm is making him upset, and he only now considers that he should have heeded Renjun’s advice and just dealt with this later. 

“I would stay longer, but it looks like Jaemin is getting sleepy,” Jeno comments, gathering Jaemin’s attention with the mention of his name. He looks back at Jeno, just to see the other already looking at him. “Cutie.”

Jaemin looks away at the speed of light, ignoring how he can feel Jeno’s chest rumble with a laugh.

Jaemin wonders how much longer he can go without strangling Jeno to death. 

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


Jaemin almost turns back into his building when he sees Jeno waiting outside his residence the next morning. 

“Hey, sweetheart, good morning!” Jeno yells loudly as Jaemin briskly makes way to walk by him. But it’s Jeno, so of course that doesn’t work. Instead, Jeno falls into step next to him, and Jaemin almost wants to cry.

Can he not go merely a day without this? 

“Good morning Jeno,” Jaemin reluctantly grumbles, acknowledging all the eyes on them because of Jeno’s outburst. Did nobody have anything better to do at 8:00am? 

“So,” Jeno starts, cheerful with his voice and light with his footsteps. Jaemin wonders how he has so much energy so early in the morning. “We should take a picture together for Instagram.”

Jaemin’s answer of _‘No’_ is immediately on the tip of his tongue, but he knows better than to go through with that. 

“Okay,” he says simply, keeping his eyes looking forward so that he doesn’t have to look at Jeno.

“Great! Meet me at the centre fountain at 4:00pm?” 

Jaemin mentally racks his schedule to make sure he’s free then, but deems it redundant when he remembers that Jeno knows his entire schedule, so of course he knows he’s free at that time. 

It makes him roll his eyes. 

“Sure,”

They walk in silence after that, and Jaemin isn’t too sure why Jeno is still walking with him. For as much as Jeno knows about his schedule, Jaemin hasn’t a clue about Jeno’s. 

He’s about to ask, but Jeno is the one who speaks before him. 

“Are you mad at me?” 

Jeno could’ve asked a lot of questions, he could’ve asked Jaemin the randomest of questions, and maybe it would’ve been easier to answer than this one.

What was he supposed to say to that? And why did Jeno sound distraught over it? 

“For what?” Jaemin finds himself blurting before he can stop himself, and it makes him want to bite his tongue so hard it severes off. Maybe then, he wouldn’t be able to make stupid slip ups like this. 

“For what happened last night? The video. I’m sorry about it, I mean it. I can take it down if it bothers you too much,” he says sincerely, and the mere genuinity in his tone catches Jaemin off guard. 

Jaemin purses his lips as he pretends to think, because he’s already thought about this the night before on his walk back to his dorms.

No, Jeno didn’t mean any harm when he posted the video. Did it cause harm? Yeah, quite a bit. But that was never the other boy’s intention, and Jaemin finds that that speaks more for his character than the outcome. 

That doesn’t mean that Jeno still isn’t sleazy and unbearable to be around, it simply means that his head and heart are in the right place. Possibly. Jaemin isn’t all too sure to be fair, he doesn’t know much about Jeno. 

He feels like he should though, because it’s been almost three weeks since they’ve known each other. While it feels like Jeno can read Jaemin like an open book, Jeno still feels like a mere acquaintance to him. 

So finally, Jaemin sighs and turns his head to look at Jeno. He finds that the other is staring at the ground, scuffing up his already scuffed up shoes. 

Like always, Jeno’s pants have holes in them. 

“No, I’m not mad,” Jaemin answers honestly, sighing again when he sees Jeno’s head perk up at his revelation. “And anyways, I like people knowing I can pack a punch,” he shrugs. 

Jeno’s grin is brilliant at that, and Jaemin can’t help it when his own lips quirk upwards at the sight. 

Maybe he should learn how to control it. 

“Awesome. I can’t stand the thought of you being mad at me,” Jeno winks, and before Jaemin knows it, he’s already back to his insufferable ways. 

Except this time, Jaemin surprises himself again with how he laughs. 

_Oh no._   
  


Jaemin’s day passes by uneventfully, until it’s already 4:00pm and he’s set to meet Jeno. 

As he’s on his way to the centre fountain, Jaemin realizes he should’ve asked Jeno to meet somewhere more discreet, or more private. Not right in the middle of campus where everyone can see them. 

But alas, there’s no turning back now. All he can do is make his way over and hope that no one stares at them like exhibits at a museum, but knowing the general student population, that was wishful thinking.

“Jaemin!” He hears Jeno’s voice call, and Jaemin whips his head around to see the other jogging up to him. “Here, hold this.” 

Jeno shoves a bagel into his hands before he can even say anything, and it just barely misses smearing cream cheese onto his sweater. 

“Why am I holding your bagel?” Jaemin asks as he waits for Jeno to catch his breath. The latter is bent over with his hands against his knees, and Jaemin is sure he’s just exaggerating right now. 

“ _Your_ bagel,” Jeno corrects, waving his own, that Jaemin had failed to notice until now, in his hand. “I got you a bagel.”

“Yes, I can see that,” Jaemin says dryly, accepting the food nonetheless. It’s not everyday, someone gives you a free bagel. “Thank you.” 

“Aw, he knows how to say thank you,” Jeno coos mockingly, and Jaemin has half the mind to hit him. But he’s come so far already, and he doubts he really wants to flush that all down the drain. 

“Is that what you’re wearing for the picture?” Jaemin asks to change the subject, eyeing up Jeno’s outfit. They're the same scuffed shoes from this morning, black and white checkered in pattern, and his black jeans are ripped in every place imaginable. He’s wearing a simple navy blue hoodie on top though, and his drawstrings are tied into a bow at the centre. 

Jaemin only likes the way the bow looks.

“Why not?” Jeno asks confusedly, taking a big bite out of his bagel. He’s got cream cheese on his cheek because of that, and Jaemin doesn’t tell him so that he can look stupid to the public. 

“We don’t match,” Jaemin says distastefully, scrunching up his nose. “Don’t you match your clothes with people you take pictures with? Or at least get in the same aesthetic?” 

Jeno doesn’t look like he understood a word Jaemin had just said, and the younger can’t say he’s surprised. 

Why did he think Jeno had any fashion intellect? That was simply a mistake on his part. 

“It’s just a picture?”

“But pictures look _nice_ , don’t they?” 

“You’re in it, it’s automatically nice.”

“You,” Jaemin glares, poking Jeno right in the middle of his chest. “You’re shameless aren’t you?” 

“Terribly so, I’m afraid.” 

They eat their bagels after that, in relative silence minus when Jeno asks him stupid and pointless questions. 

Jaemin entertains him, solely because he realizes that as time goes on, Jeno asks actual interesting questions. No, they weren’t intellectual and Jaemin didn’t know the answers because he read them in a textbook somewhere— but because they make him think and make him wonder how Jeno even got to this question.

Jeno kind of reminds him of Renjun in that way, always reaching and asking appalling questions that make you think in non-academic ways. 

Maybe Jeno and Renjun would get along. 

“Look,” Jeno mumbles when he’s done his bagel, reaching into his backpack and pulling out a DSLR camera. “I have a clicker for this too,” he continues, waving around a tiny remote looking thing in his hand. 

“You brought… An entire camera for this?” Jaemin asks out loud, tilting his head to the side in confusion as he watches Jeno set up the camera on the back of the bench they were sitting on.

“Why not?” The other shrugs. “I think I’m doing everyone a favour, if the pictures of you are in 4K quality,” he winks, and Jaemin looks away immediately. 

Oh what a sight, to see Jeno flirting with someone.

“How lovely,” he deadpans, but Jeno only shrugs again and walks over to the other side of the bench, and crouches down until he can see through the lense of the camera. 

“It is, isn’t it? With the clips in your hair and how your shorts make your waist look pretty. Very lovely, if I do say so myself,”

It’s right after Jeno is done singing about Jaemin’s outfit that the latter hears the click of the camera go off, and flushes when he realizes Jeno has just taken a picture of him. 

“Hm, I’ll keep this one to myself,” Jeno smirks as he looks at the photo he just took, standing back up on his feet after setting the camera up again. “Ready, doll?”

“Ready what? How are we standing—”

Jaemin doesn’t get to finish asking his question before he feels a familiar arm around his waist, one that effortlessly seems to spin him around. 

“Jeno!” He exclaims, though he wonders if Jeno can hear it through his own laughter. The sound is right in Jaemin’s ear, deep and reverberating where he’s pressed up against Jeno’s chest.

And then, Jeno’s other arm snakes around his waist, and now Jeno has picked him up.

“Jeno! Put me down,” Jaemin yelps, both his own hands coming up to land onto Jeno’s shoulders for stability. 

“Not yet,” Jeno chuckles, spinning him around once again.

Jaemin doesn’t even want to think about if and how many people are staring at them, because the only thing on his mind is how loud Jeno is laughing, how flushed his cheeks must be, and how easy it seems to have Jeno lifting him up like he was weightless.

Why does Jeno, of all people, make him feel weightless?

“C’mon babe, smile a bit! It’s no fun if it looks like I dragged you here,” Jeno pouts a bit, finally setting Jaemin down onto his feet. He doesn’t let go of him though.

Jaemin wants to say that Jeno did very much drag him here, but that wouldn’t be the truth. 

He takes a few seconds to adjust his clothes and hair, making sure everything is lined up again. 

“Mind _you_ , that—”

“Seriously, you talk too much,” Jeno sighs with a smile on his face, two fingers digging into the spot right under Jaemin’s ribs. “Lighten up, Jaeminnie.” 

Jeno’s both hands are holding his waist again, except this time his fingers are sprawling around and doing their best to tickle him. 

Of all things Jeno could’ve done right now he _tickles_ him. 

Jaemin can’t help it when he starts laughing, something that he notices puts a smile on Jeno’s face too. 

He tries to pry Jeno’s fingers off of him through his giggles, but it proves to be fruitless when Jeno simply picks him up again, this time resulting in an embarrassing squeal passing through Jaemin’s lips. 

The ground suddenly disappearing under his feet makes him grip onto Jeno’s shoulders again, the last remnants of Jeno’s tickling still present. 

“So pretty, when you smile,” Jeno grins up at him, and Jaemin notices the mole next to his eye.

Has that always been there?

Jeno puts Jaemin down again after a few seconds of the latter catching his breath, and whether he likes it or not, Jaemin slumps against Jeno in an attempt to ignore the ache in his stomach and ribs. 

Jeno doesn’t seem to mind the extra weight, Jaemin doesn’t know why he thought he would, it’s _Jeno_ for God’s sake, as he walks them both over to where he had propped up his camera. 

When he goes to pick it up, Jaemin sees him looking through pictures which have just captured what they were doing. And they were all… 

“ _Candid_?” Jaemin exclaims, looking at the pictures with wide eyes. “But my face—”

“Looks perfectly fine,” Jeno dismisses, showing Jaemin a picture of him smiling while looking down at Jeno. It makes Jaemin’s cheeks flame red when he sees them both, and he hopes Jeno doesn’t notice. “You just gotta smile sometimes.”

Jaemin doesn’t say anything else as he watches Jeno look through some more pictures before putting his camera away. Jaemin is stable enough to stand on his own now, and he makes his way to grab his discarded backpack and put it over his shoulders.

“There’s a party this weekend,” Jeno suddenly blurts out, making Jaemin look at him quizzically. “We should go.” 

“Why?” Jaemin asks, not surprised when Jeno falls into step next to him. 

“A lot of people will be there to see us together. It’s good for people to see us together beyond just what we post.”

Oh.

Jaemin almost forgot that’s why they were doing this. 

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


Jaemin’s party invite gets extended to Renjun, and he’s Jaemin’s plus one because he asked before Donghyuck could’ve. 

But Jaemin knows that Renjun will still ditch him the moment he lays eyes on Donghyuck, so he doesn’t even think it matters who Renjun goes with. 

Either way, Renjun is the one who’s helping him get ready right now, playing music in his dorm room and fishing through clothes in his closet. 

“Maybe you should switch it up a little bit,” Renjun suggests when Jaemin comes out of the bathroom, freshly showered with his hair blowdried. “Wouldn't that be fun?” 

“Depends on what you have planned for me,” Jaemin answers skeptically, squinting his eyes suspiciously when Renjun hides the clothes he’s picked out behind his back. “What have you done?”

“Nothing terrible!” Renjun smiles, stalking up to Jaemin with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Jaemin would be lying if he said it didn’t scare him. “Just something… Different.”

Jaemin prefers to wear a lot of light colours, also favoring neutral and pastels. He doesn’t necessarily stray away from darker and solid colours and clothes, but he’s not wearing that sort of thing everyday. 

So when Renjun shows him what he picked out, it takes a moment to register what the clothing items are. 

Jaemin’s skirts are mostly pleated, but this one is a black pencil shaped skirt that ends at his mid thighs. 

He doesn’t really wear collared shirts casually, but Renjun is holding a white one up, that Jaemin assumes will go under the dark army green sweatshirt he’s also holding up. 

He doesn’t think it’s terribly bad until Renjun pulls out the accessories. 

Jaemin has a lot of earrings, some of them which he hasn’t gotten around to wearing yet. Those just to happen to be the ones Renjun is holding out, dangling them between his fingers. 

It’s a silver earring with a chain that attaches to a fake cuff for the shell of his ear, and in his other hand Renjun has a simple dangling chain. 

For the necklace, he’s picked out a chunky looking chain with a lock in the middle, something Jaemin has sworn he’s seen before.

“That’s not mine,” Jaemin blurts after looking at the necklace, and Renjun hums dismissively. 

“Yeah it’s not, it’s Donghyuck’s. I just think this will look great with the outfit. Anyways, go change! I have your shoes waiting by the door!”

As Renjun shoves the clothes into his hands and pushes him towards the bathroom, Jaemin catches sight of the shoes Renjun had picked out. 

Platform Doc Marten boots. 

His feet were going to _kill_ him by the end of the night, he’s sure. 

Jaemin takes his time stepping into his clothes and adjusting them the way he liked. He tucks the side of the sweater into one side of his skirt, and makes sure there’s no bulging of fabric. He makes sure his collar looks near and firm, and that his jewelry is centred. 

Just for fun, Jaemin adds a little bit of body glitter to the length of his legs, since they’re all exposed. 

When he gives himself a final look over, he can’t say Renjun did a terrible job. Sure, the colour and general aesthetic was out of his comfort zone, but the clothes themselves were relatively tame… 

Jaemin steps out just as Renjun is finishing getting ready, looping a belt through his jeans and parting his hair the way he likes it. Or maybe it’s the way Donghyuck likes it, who knows.

“I put some socks on the bed for you. They're high ones, so they’ll show over your boots.” 

“How considerate,” Jaemin mumbles, but he means it when he sees the white socks with frills at the tops. They’re cute, in his opinion. 

As Jaemin finishes tying up the laces on his boots, Renjun slips his phone into his pocket and announces that he’s ready. 

“Wait,” Jaemin calls as he stands up, grabbing his own phone from his bed and opening Snapchat. “Let’s post a selfie.” 

So Renjun comes to stand behind Jaemin as they pose for a picture, and Jaemin captions it with a simple smiley face. He posts it onto his story, and before he can lock his phone again, Renjun holds his wrist.

“Did you see what Jeno posted on Instagram yet?” He asks.

Although Jaemin knows what the pictures will be, he hasn't seen them yet. Jeno had told them he’d post them today, but he didn’t get a chance to check. 

“No,” he answers honestly, opening up the app and searching for Jeno’s profile. 

The most recent post is a four picture photo set from yesterday, and Jeno must’ve edited them somehow because they look better than what he saw on the camera screen. 

While Jaemin is swiping through the set, he hears Renjun snort. 

“‘ _Smiley boys_ ,’” Renjun reads from the caption, rolling his eyes right after. “How creative.”

Jaemin isn’t really listening to him though, too focused on the last picture in the set of four. 

This is one where Jeno is lifting him up in the air again, but the angle is different. You can’t see the definition of their faces clearly, and with Jaemin’s hands perched on the other’s shoulders, it looks like their noses are touching.

In the back of Jaemin’s mind, it reminds him of those horrendous engagement photos he always used to make fun of. 

Horrifically, he realizes he is _in_ the photos he used to make fun of.

Jaemin exits the app before he can think more about that any longer, following Renjun out of his dorm and reading out the address Jeno had sent him.

“That’s a frat house,” Renjun mumbles, cocking his head to the side as he tries to think of someone he knows there. “I didn't know that Jeno or Donghyuck would know someone from there.” 

Jaemin only hums, thinking about it too.

He’s never been to a frat party before, only having heard of them and vicariously living through Renjun’s own party stories. He simply hasn’t been interested in going to one yet, but tonight he has a reason. 

And although it’s weird to think that that reason is _Jeno_ , there’s not much he can change about that now. 

It’s only about a fifteen minute walk until Jaemin can hear unbearably loud music and smell a stench that can only be classified as ‘ _college party’._ He follows Renjun through the empty solo cups and ribbons littering the front lawn, passing by multiple people who don’t try to hide the way they are ogling them. 

Inside the house isn’t any better, truthfully, with the music even deafeningly louder, the sea of bodies becoming bigger. 

Maneuvering around everyone is a bit of a hassle, pushing past shoulders and making sure he doesn’t step on someone’s toes with his incredible _bulk_ of shoes. 

Jaemin and Renjun make it to the kitchen before either of them can breathe properly, and Jaemin gives Renjun a miserable look.

Renjun mirrors it. 

“I’ll be honest with you,” Renjun sighs as he grabs two solo cups from the counter, reading over all the labels off the half empty alcohol bottles around them. “We should stop doing things like this for cute boys.” 

Jaemin wants to tell Renjun that he isn't here for a cute boy, until he remembers that Jeno _is_ the reason he decided to even show up. 

But for now, he keeps that to himself and accepts whatever Renjun had poured into his cup when he was too busy thinking to pay attention to it. 

“Is this what you do for leisure?” Jaemin asks after a while, with a clear tone of distaste dripping from his tongue. 

It makes Renjun grin. 

“Occasionally, yeah,” he shrugs, throwing back whatever was left in his cup and pouring himself more. “It’s more bearable if you loosen up, come on. Finish what’s in your cup and I’ll give you more.”

Jaemin agrees with Renjun and thinks that the only way he’s going to be able to enjoy his time here is if he can make himself numb enough. 

Maybe this is why he receives weird texts from Renjun when he’s plastered. 

Nonetheless, Jaemin follows in Renjun’s footsteps and finishes the contents of his cup, letting Renjun pour him more of whatever lukewarm alcohol there was available. 

They continue like this for the next tens of minutes, yelling in order to have a conversation until there’s a little buzz in Jaemin veins and his shoulders are more relaxed. 

It’s only then, that someone approaches them. 

And it’s none other than Renjun’s man of the night. 

“Looking good, you two,” Donghyuck winks, sliding into the spot next to Renjun and eyeing the latter up and down. Jaemin rolls his eyes at him. 

He whispers something in Renjun’s ear, something to which Renjun smirks at, and Jaemin feels like he’s third wheeling. 

Thankfully though, Donghyuck turns to Jaemin after that. 

“Jeno is looking for you,” he says with the same sleazy smile he finds on Jeno’s face all the time. He wonders who learned it from whom. “He’s in the backyard with a few other friends.” 

Jaemin was about to ask where the backyard was, but Donghyuck sweeps Renjun away right after informing him. 

Jaemin would be mad if he wasn’t aware of Renjun’s monstrous crush on Donghyuck. Still, he’s a bit irked, but they’ve both been boy crazy once so Jaemin can’t really get mad at him. 

He sighs as he finishes whatever was left in his cup, and then shoves through bodies to make his way to try and find the door to the backyard. 

It’s terribly difficult to see with so many people taking up every inch of space, and the trek towards what he thinks is the door is even more unpleasant when he feels hands constantly brush against the hem of his skirt or onto the skin of his thighs.

Sure, he looks amazing, but perhaps this wasn’t the best wardrobe choice to be walking around alone right now. 

He’s grateful when he sees that his prediction is correct, and that he has successfully located the backyard door. It’s already open, and when Jaemin steps out, he’s happy to take in a lungful of fresh air. 

Except the stench isn’t that fresh anymore; it smells of weed. 

Jaemin doesn’t know why he’s surprised, but he doesn’t dwell on it any longer. Instead, he tries to find a familiar mop of blond hair that’s looking for him. 

He doesn’t take long after he’s stalked out into the vast expanse of the backyard, and he wonders if all frat houses were this big. 

It doesn’t take long to spot Jeno either, not when he was in a crowd of at least fifteen people, and definitely not when they drag attention to themselves with lit up joints that glow orange between their fingers.

Jaemin sees girls on either side of Jeno, but when they lock eyes, Jeno looks at him like he’s the only person in the room. Or backyard. Whatever. 

When Jeno stands up, stumbling on his feet a little, Jaemin gets a full glance at his outfit. Dark, ripped black jeans, with chains dangling from the belt loops, and a grey muscle tee which accentuates his arms, with a graphic design on the front. His blond hair is parted, framing his face while his forehead is on display. 

Even with the haze in his eyes and the dopey grin on his face, Jaemin has perfectly functioning eyes and can come to the conclusion that Jeno looks _hot._

“Hm, pretty c’mere, I’ll let you finish this one,” Jeno grins, waving around the blunt between his fingers when he catches Jaemin staring at him. “Cute skirt by the way. How’d you know black was my favourite colour?” 

Jaemin blushes as he walks towards Jeno, and he hopes that the other boy isn’t able to see it, either due to the low light, or how… _Gone_ he sounds. 

God, Jeno smells like alcohol and weed when Jaemin stands in front of him, and he wonders if he’s even coherent enough to have a conversation. 

“Want some?” Jeno asks, holding his blunt out to Jaemin. He looks between the glowing blunt between Jeno’s fingers and his face, and his hesitation must show on his face, when he sees Jeno smirk a little and raise his eyebrows. “Never smoked one before, have you?” 

“No,” Jaemin answers, shaking his head. He looks at the blunt though, interested. Jaemin wonders how Jeno can hold it when it’s lit up. “Isn’t it hot?”

All Jeno does is snort at his question, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards where he was sitting. When Jeno pulls him down next to him, Jaemin sees the other girls give him the stink eye out of his peripheral vision. 

Maybe it was because he looked better in a skirt than they did, he’s not too sure. 

“Here,” Jeno starts, not minding how almost everyone’s eyes were on them, or how loud the vulgar comments were around them. “Inhale,” he instructs, proceeding to do so himself. He doesn’t say anything after that for a while, and Jaemin assumes he’s still inhaling. And then, Jeno exhales, and Jaemin watches the cloud of smoke wisp away. “And then exhale.” 

He looks dazed when he turns back to Jaemin, holding the blunt out. 

Hesitantly, Jaemin takes it between his fingers. It can’t be longer than two inches, and it’s not quite as hot as he thought it was. Jeno made it look easy, so it couldn’t be that hard, right? It looked like using a straw. 

Jaemin is aware of the many eyes on him, so he uses that as a reason to move closer to Jeno, if only to shield away from the gazes of so many people. He didn’t appreciate that many people watching him attempt to smoke for the first time (and most likely embarrass himself while doing so).

Jeno seems to pick up on this even through his intoxication, snaking an arm around his waist like he always does and pulling him impossibly closer, until he’s practically on his lap. 

This definitely makes some people look away, like some of the girls who were side eyeing him and some guys who looked like they could eat him in two seconds if he let them. 

And when Jaemin feels Jeno’s chest press against his shoulder, his heart beats a little faster. 

He’s not too sure why, but he decides he doesn’t like it. 

Jaemin brings the joint to his lips, belatedly realizes Jeno’s lips have been on it too, and he inhales the smoke like Jeno told him to. 

Except it doesn’t work like it had worked for Jeno, because Jaemin starts coughing and his throat starts to burn, while his eyes start to water. 

“Cutie,” Jeno mumbles, patting Jaemin’s back gently. “Have some water,” Jeno says as he offers a cup. 

As Jaemin takes a sip, he realizes that it most definitely isn’t water. It’s straight up vodka, and maybe he should’ve considered that there really wouldn’t be any water around here. 

Nonetheless, it clears the smoke from his throat, and his breathing starts to regulate again. 

“Wanna try again?” He asks, and when Jaemin looks at him, his eyes are a bit red and he’s smiling. It makes Jaemin nod his head. “Go slow then.”

Jaemin brings the joint back up to his lips, inhaling slower just like Jeno had said. This time, nothing burns as violently, and he’s able to successfully exhale smoke from his mouth.

“Hot,” Jeno mumbles, taking the blunt from Jaemin’s fingers and bringing it up to his own lips. The way Jeno smokes so effortlessly stirs up something in Jaemin, and he’s partially disturbed by that. 

But that feeling is dismissed when Jeno blows smoke out of his mouth, watching it curl into the air until it disappears, and when Jeno turns back to him with a stunning smile. 

“You’re sparkly,” Jeno notes when his gaze drifts down to Jaemin’s legs. “Like a princess.” 

Jaemin feels his face start to heat up, and he internally curses himself for it. 

“It’s glitter,” Jaemin says, accepting the joint when Jeno holds it up to his lips. He exhales before he speaks. “We’re… Matching a little.” 

Jeno raises his eyebrows at that, looking down at his own outfit again. 

And then, he’s smirking at Jaemin. 

“Did you do that on purpose, hm sweetheart? I don’t think I’ve seen you wear something like this before.”

Jeno is right, and while Jaemin wasn’t the one who picked the outfit out, he doesn’t bother saying anything against what Jeno said either. He didn’t change for a reason. 

“And this,” Jeno mumbles, his hand coming up to his neck. Jaemin doesn’t know what he’s doing until he feels the other’s fingers tug on the chain he’s wearing. “This is Donghyuck’s necklace,” he comments, a sudden sour look on his face. 

“Yeah, Renjun snagged it for me,” Jaemin says, taking another sip from the cup in his hand when Jeno moves closer to get a better look at the necklace. 

Jaemin can practically feel the other’s breath on his neck, and he feels himself stop breathing for a moment when Jeno inhales sharply.

“Next time,” Jeno starts quietly, moving back and returning his arm to his waist. He looks up into Jaemin’s eyes next, where the latter can see the red whites of Jeno’s eyes and the cloudiness over them from the alcohol. “Snag something of mine, will you doll?”

Jaemin wonders, when Jeno offers him a new joint, how much of this they're both going to remember the next morning. 

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


He doesn’t need to remember anything from last night, it seems, when he wakes up to see photos and videos of him and Jeno circling around Twitter. 

Jaemin squints his eyes when he tries to adjust them to the morning light, blearily swiping through his phone and looking at the blurry pictures and low quality videos. 

Despite the poor quality, it’s very clear in the pictures and videos that they’re sitting _very_ close to each other, and that they’re both intoxicated. 

Jaemin doesn’t remember when one joint turned to two which turned to three, he just kept accepting whatever Jeno had been passing to him. 

In retrospect, that definitely wasn’t the brightest idea, but there was nothing he can do about it now. 

What he can do though, is dismiss the text messages which keep popping up on the top of his screen. 

He means to swipe away at the next one that pops up without looking at it, but he taps on it accidentally, and suddenly, his phone screen is switching apps.

He’s taken to his and Jeno’s Instagram messages, showing a thread of messages that looks like Jeno is still sending, if his icon at the bottom of the screen is anything to go by. 

**jenolee_** ****

_nana_

_jaeminnie_

_look_

_[IMAGE ATTACHMENT]_

_you look zooted_

_darling nana_

_are you even awake_

_did i tire you that much😏_

_oh wait you are awake_

_i can see you’ve read these_

_now answer me_

_how’d you sleep😇_

Jaemin rolls his eyes before even thinking of answering Jeno’s messages, clicking on the picture first instead. 

It blows up on the screen, and Jaemin sees a picture of him with his head on Jeno’s shoulder, looking up and blind to the way Jeno is staring at him with a grin on his face. 

When his eyes move downwards, he sees that his legs are thrown over Jeno’s, and that Jeno’s hand is up one side of his sweater. 

If he tries hard enough, he can feel the phantom touch of Jeno’s fingers on his bare waist, but the buzz of his phone with another message from said boy breaks him out of those thoughts. 

**jenolee_**

_it is terribly rude to ignore me_

_after i brought you home and everything_

**jaeminana**

_you did not bring me back here_

**jenolee_**

_you’re right, i just knew you’d answer if i said that_

_quite an open book sweetheart🥰_

**jaeminana**

_what do you want so early in the morning_

**jenolee_**

_it’s noon but alright_

_just wanted to see if you were feeling alright after yesterday_

_you don’t feel sick, do you?_

Ah, there goes Jaemin’s heart again, thumping itself to a frenzy when Jeno asks such a sweet question. 

He pounds a fist against his chest in hopes of making the feeling go away. 

**jaeminana**

_i can take perfect care of myself, thank you_

**jenolee_**

_that wasn’t the case last night_

_when you couldn’t even sit up on your own_

_would you like for photo evidence_

_or maybe i can tag you in a video instead_

  
  


Jaemin glares at his phone screen, as if that was going to do anything. 

He doesn’t know if he’s glaring at what Jeno said, or at himself for secretly wanting to see more pictures and videos. He wouldn’t mind, really, if Jeno sent him more. 

But he’d never let the other know that. 

  
  


**jaeminana**

_goodbye jeno_

_glad you got the publicity you wanted from the party_

**jenolee_**

_silly boy_

_only an idiot would use publicity as an excuse to go to a party with you_

_and i can’t be the idiot, i’m here on a scholarship babe😉_

  
  


Jaemin turns his phone off after reading that message, uninterested in Jeno’s scholarship. Sure, it must be helpful and he’s positive Jeno has earned it, but that didn’t make thinking about it any more fun. 

Jaemin huffs as he collapses back onto the bed, letting his head bounce against his pillow as he looks up at his blank ceiling. 

His headache is prominent, but it doesn’t kill him. He’d rather it not be there though, so he starts debating the pros and cons of getting out of bed to grab some ibuprofen. 

Jaemin spreads eagle on his bed as he thinks, loving the way the cool sheets touch his skin and balance out the warmth from his thick blanket. 

Jaemin moves to bring his arms over and above his head to stretch, but that’s when his fingers brush across something which distinctively doesn’t feel like his blanket, or pillows. 

Keeping his hand in the same position, Jaemin turns his head curiously to see that his fingers are brushing against a heap of black material. 

Intrigued, Jaemin grabs the fabric between his fingers and unravels the material, until he’s holding a black zip up sweater between his fingers. 

When Jaemin brings it closer to his face, his nose scrunches up at the stench of weed coming from the fabric. Based on that, he thinks it’s his, until he remembers that he wore a green sweatshirt yesterday, not a black zip up. 

When he stares at the zip up for a few seconds longer, sudden memories start flooding in his brain.

He remembers now, how much, much later into the night when more people were moving outside to get some air, all the eyes that had naturally gravitated over to him and Jeno. 

He remembers the way Jeno would shoot the stink eye to anyone who looked at his legs long enough, or to anyone who got dangerously close to the bottom hem of his skirt. 

And then, he remembers how Jeno had grabbed a hoodie from the ground and tied it around Jaemin’s waist so that more of his legs were covered, after explaining that it was his hoodie. 

Jaemin’s cheeks flame hot as he throws the hoodie across the room, willing his racing heart to calm itself. 

There’s just no way, his heart would beat like this for Jeno. 

But Jaemin was too tired to figure out the real reason, so he pushes all those thoughts away and distracts himself by getting ready.

He doesn’t bother picking up the hoodie from the floor. 

  
  
  
  


Jeno, much to his demise, did end up losing the bet to Donghyuck. 

He _did_ end up getting himself into something sticky after meeting with Jaemin. The whole thing was a domino effect, going to meet Jaemin to film a TikTok, only for Jaemin to punch him and half of Jeno’s following having something to say about it. 

Quite sticky indeed.

Which is why Jeno now finds himself taking his card out every time Donghyuck eats lunch, and Jeno just _knows_ the brat is buying more food than he usually eats just because it’s Jeno’s bank account that’s taking the hit. 

Donghyuck is terribly unnerving at times, this time being a prime example. 

“And I thought he was taking it off so that he could, y’know, kiss my neck or something like a normal person,”

Jeno grimaces, finding it hard to keep his food down with Donghyuck talking about his bedroom experiences. 

“But then, the fucker just put it in his pocket and said thanks! He just wanted it for Jaemin,” he finishes with a grumble, shoving an alarming amount of food into his mouth right after. 

Jeno is only a little satisfied that the situation had ended in Donghyuck’s demise. 

“So he robbed you,” Jeno sums up. He’s amused when Donghyuck’s eyes light up.

“Yes… It’s exactly that. I should make him pay for it, you’re such a genius Jeno!” 

And then, Jeno winces again when he realizes he’s helped Donghyuck. 

He can’t ever win when it comes to the other, can he? 

“Don’t look at me like that, as if you weren’t throwing yourself over Jaemin last night,”

At the mention of the other’s name, Jeno perks up. 

If Donghyuck notices that, he doesn’t say anything. 

“Oh, you fool,” he sighs instead, throwing his crumpled straw wrapper at Jeno’s face. “You’re helpless aren’t you? What happened to this being a business deal?”

Jeno has the audacity to look bashful as he shrugs his shoulders, unable to meet Donghyuck’s eyes as he picks at his food. 

Nothing necessarily happened to Jeno’s business deal…

Because it was never supposed to be a business deal in the first place

It’s just easy, isn’t it, to convince Jaemin with such wording. And _so what_ if Jeno has learned words like that and how to propose such ideas from business class, it’s not like he’s expecting much back from Jaemin. 

Maybe it was just a guise to get to spend more time with someone who’s been his internet crush for the last four months.

And maybe it was working. 

“You’re thinking about him aren’t you?” Donghyuck tsks, disgust on his face as if he didn’t wax poetry about Renjun five minutes ago. “Wipe that awful look off of your face, _please_. I can’t stand it when you’re happy,”

Jeno rolls his eyes, snapped out of his stupeur about Jaemin. He knows Donghyuck doesn’t mean it, which is why he lets the other get away with only a kick to the shin. 

They continue a nicer conversation after that, finishing their meals and going off on a million random tangents. They both talk too much for their own goods, it seems. 

Just as they’re getting ready to pay and leave, Jeno feels someone tap his shoulder. 

He turns around with a confused furrow in his eyebrow, something which deepens when he finds that he doesn’t know who the girl standing in front of him is. 

Vaguely though, in the back of his head he thinks he remembers her being at the party last night. He’s not too sure. 

“Hello,” he still greets nicely, not minding to clear the confusion on his face. 

“Hi, um,” she starts nervously, and Jeno can see her cheeks redden a little. He’d find it cute if maybe her hair was a certain pastel pink he can’t stop thinking about. “Are you dating someone?” 

To say Jeno would be surprised by her straightforwardness would be an understatement, and he thinks he lets it show on his face by how his eyebrows shoot up. 

He guesses Donghyuck has a similar reaction by the way he’s stopped moving, Jeno can hear his hands come to a stop where they were slipping his jacket back on. 

“Even if I was,” Jeno starts, kindly but truthfully. “I wouldn’t tell you.” 

However, this doesn’t seem to deter the girl.

“Is it Jaemin?” She blurts out, obviously nervous for the answer by the way she bites her lip. “Because you’ve been—”

“Even if it was Jaemin,” Jeno says again, shrugging his shoulders and slipping his own jacket onto his shoulders. “I wouldn’t tell you. Have a nice day, the cold noodles here are really good.”

Jeno and Donghyuck leave after that, money on the table and not giving the girl to ask other questions. 

“Invasive much?” Donghyuck scoffs once they have stepped foot outside, walking towards where Jeno had parked his car. “And in public too, where’s the decency?”

“Oh, be quiet,” Jeno tsks, unlocking his car and sliding into the driver’s seat. “Buy me ice cream.”

Jeno gets distracted from listening to Donghyuck complain about buying him ice cream when his phone buzzes. 

He sees from his lock screen that it’s an Instagram message from Jaemin, and he wonders what exactly it could be about since, for one, he’s always the one who initiates their conversations, and two, Jaemin had left the last message he had sent on read. 

Nonetheless, he decides to answer the message before he starts driving, opening up the app and heading to their conversation. 

He’s a bit speechless when he sees what Jaemin had sent. 

  
  


**jaeminana**

_i want to take an Instagram picture with you_

_come over tonight, my dorm number is 1246 on the second floor_

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


To say Jeno was intrigued as he makes his way to Jaemin’s dorm wouldn’t even be half of it. 

As intrigued as he is, he’s also terribly confused. 

Even more so when Jaemin opens the door wearing _that._

At first, all Jeno sees is his hair styled and a white turtleneck. But then, his eyes drift downwards and catch sight of a black top with a deep v-neck cut, and straps as sleeves. But when his eyes drift even lower, he sees that it’s not a top at all.

It’s a black dress which ends just above Jaemin’s knees. 

“You’re going to catch flies,” Jaemin deadpans, grabbing Jeno’s wrist and pulling him inside when he sees that Jeno won’t move on his own, quite literally frozen. “C’mon, I haven’t even done my makeup yet. I can’t look that good.”

“Always,” Jeno blurts out immediately, and it’s guaranteed that there are hearts in his eyes. “You always look that good,” he says breathlessly.

And he _means_ it. 

He’s thought it every time he so much as lays his eyes on Jaemin, since the day he’s stumbled across his Instagram page, since he’s stumbled across his TikTok account, since he’s stumbled across him in real life in that cafeteria.

In his eyes, Jaemin is the most beautiful person he’s ever seen.

Even if he didn’t think so, with his makeup not done. 

To Jeno, makeup or not, Jaemin still looks like he belongs up in the sky with the angels.

But right now wasn't the time for Jeno to wonder which Gods sculpted Jaemin to perfection, not when it was the other boy who had called him here for something else. 

Maybe soon though, Jeno hopes to drip honey into Jaemin’s ears about how unearthly he finds him. 

When Jeno finally tears his eyes away from Jaemin, he sees the set up the other has. 

Like Jeno, Jaemin has a DSLR camera set up on a little tripod near the end of his bed. It’s stacked on a few textbooks for balance, and Jaemin’s LED lights shine purple around them. 

“Sit down,” Jaemin says, gesturing towards his desk chair. 

Jeno does so without another word and watches as Jaemin takes a seat across the room at his vanity. He’s seen it in a few of Jaemin’s videos, but he hasn't ever thought about what it would look like in person. 

It’s messier now, and Jeno guesses Jaemin cleans it up when he’s filming. There’s eyeshadow pallets open, as well as a multitude of different sized brushes scattered along the table. Jaemin has a lot of lipstick too, it looks like, and a lot of body glitter as well. 

Jeno is taken back to the night before when his legs had sparkled like the stars above their heads. 

While Jaemin is still busy applying his makeup, Jeno takes his phone out and discreetly opens his Snapchat camera.

Jeno waits a little until Jaemin is bringing a big brush up to his face, and he snaps a picture with a small smile on his face. 

“What did you do today?” Jaemin asks, surprising Jeno once again by starting a conversation. It takes Jeno a few seconds to think of an answer, quickly drawing a heart on the picture he took and posting it to his story on Snapchat. 

“Uh,” he starts, blinking owlishly, just a bit taken aback by how Jaemin is already done his eyeshadow. He works quickly, and it looks good. A bit messier and more plain than what he normally does, but pretty nonetheless. “Nothing much.” 

“Hm. Do my eyes look pretty?” 

Jeno snaps his head up to Jaemin’s eyes, already now lined with eyeliner. It’s black and dainty, and the wings look crisp and precise at the end. 

“Very,” Jeno nods dumbly, watching as Jaemin smirks and turns back to his vanity mirror. “What kind of pictures did you want to take?” 

“You’ll see,” Jaemin mumbles, picking up a brush which Jeno is convinced is bigger than a golf ball. He starts aggressively patting his cheek with it. “Did you go out today?”

Jeno doesn’t know why Jaemin is interrogating him, but when Jaemin throws him a look through the mirror, he doesn’t think he’s even capable of not answering the question.

Jeno will end up doing dangerous things, if it were Jaemin asking while looking like that. 

“Had lunch with Donghyuck,” he says, watching as Jaemin picks up tweezers and something long and bushy…

It’s only when the other boy brings it up to his eyes that Jeno realizes they are false eyelashes. 

It’s another thing Jaemin doesn’t wear often, something Jeno hasn’t seen him in often. But Jeno can’t deny that Jaemin looks good, not when they make his eyes pop and make him look prettier. 

“Was it nice?” Jaemin asks, putting on his other eyelash and picking up what looks like lip tint. “Quiet and chill?”

“Yeah,” Jeno answers plainly, too intrigued by the sight of Jaemin pushing his lips out and tinting them red. Just when he thinks Jaemin couldn't be more attractive, he grabs a clear lipgloss and coats his lips in it too, giving them a shine so tempting, Jeno has to rip his eyes away. “What did you do today?”

Jaemin doesn’t answer him right away, picking up a tube of mascara instead and scooching closer to the mirror on his vanity. 

His eyes are opened extremely wide as he’s applying it, and if Jenon didn’t know any better he’d think Jaemin looked funny. But at the end of the day, it’s hard for Jaemin to do something Jeno doesn’t like. 

“I didn’t call you here to talk about me,” Jaemin scoffs finally, and Jeno almost forgets what his question even was when Jaemin turns around and he sees the completed makeup look.

Jaemin looks like a complete dream. 

Sure, this is one of his more subdued makeup looks, Jeno has seen him so far more extravagant before for videos and such. But this Jaemin simply looks so… Cute and adorable.

But he’s not done, because he then grabs a little circle container filled with something sparkly, and sprinkles some onto his legs using one of those golf sized brushes again. 

It’s body glitter. Jeno’s throat runs dry. 

“Jeno, come here,” Jaemin says as he gets up from his vanity chair. He doesn’t really wait for Jeno to get up though, grabbing the other’s wrist himself, for the second time today. 

Jaemin leads them over to the bed, and Jeno almost chokes on air when Jaemin pushes him onto the mattress. 

He then gets onto the bed himself and crawls towards the tripod and camera near the end. 

Jeno watches as he adjusts some things, and then as his hand makes way to grab something black from the corner of his bed. 

As his eyes follow Jaemin’s movements, he sees the other’s phone screen open on a tweet. When he looks closer, he sees his name in the tweet, and then something about how he was seen getting approached by a girl today while he was eating with Donghyuck. 

“Are you reading about me?” Jeno asks, astonished by what he read. 

He turns to Jaemin, waiting for an answer, but he’s immediately distracted by what he sees. 

Because Jaemin isn’t just wearing a white turtleneck underneath a strappy black dress which hugs his curves and accentuates his waist, now he’s wearing all of that _and Jeno’s hoodie._

“No snooping,” he huffs, turning his phone over and shoving it under a pillow. When he sees Jeno gaping at him, he smirks. “Like what you see?” 

“A bit too much, I think,” Jeno gulps, sounding breathless. “I was wondering what I did with this,” he adds, looking at how his hoodie hangs off of one of Jaemin’s shoulders. 

He decides that he likes the look probably a lot more than he should. 

“I bought one of those clickers after I saw yours. Quite useful, aren’t they?” the younger asks, but Jeno really _can’t_ pay attention to his words, definitely not when Jaemin speaks while pushing Jeno back against the pillows against the headboard of his bed. 

He’s practically hovering over Jeno as he shows him the clicker between his hands, and with Jaemin’s sparkly legs so close to him, it’s hard to keep focus. 

“Very useful, mhm,” Jeno nods, gulping when Jaemin bends down even more. Jeno can feel his breath of his neck as he adjusts a pillow behind Jeno’s head, and he swears he stops breathing for a while. 

“Great,” Jaemin mumbles, satisfied with the setup he had made. 

Jaemin sits back on his haunches for a few quiet seconds before nudging Jeno’s legs apart a bit with his hands, just big enough for him to fit between them. 

This time Jeno _knows_ he stops breathing when Jaemin sits himself between his legs with his back pressed to his chest. 

Jeno is scared that Jaemin is able to feel how violent his heartbeat is against his back. 

“What are you doing?” Jeno asks, half for his curiosity, and half for his sanity. Jaemin was going to kill him if he pulled out any other new tricks without letting him know first. 

“Posing,” he answers simply, grabbing one of Jeno’s arms and bringing it across his chest, until that hand reaches his shoulder. He stays holding that arm. 

“Like this? Is it necessary?” Jeno doesn’t even know if he’s doing a good job at hiding the strain in his voice, but he wouldn’t be surprised if the answer was no. 

“Well, it’ll give out the same message your photos did,” Jaemin shrugs nonchalantly, adjusting their legs to his liking. “And then, maybe people will stop asking stupid questions.”

Jeno’s eyebrows furrow at this. _What stupid questions?_

“What questions?” 

Jaemin pauses for all of two seconds before turning his head to look at Jeno. 

“Oh you know. About personal stuff. About us. About relationships,” he says slowly, raising an eyebrow after everything he says. “You know what I mean? It’s awfully irritating when _even if it were the truth, you wouldn’t tell them._ ”

Jeno’s eyes widen a little at Jaemin’s wording, and it’s very obvious that he’s right about what he’s thinking when he sees the other’s face unchanging. 

“You—” he starts, thinking back to what he was reading when Jaemin’s phone was open to that tweet. He knew, very well, what Jeno did today, before he even asked all of those questions. 

“Do you like it?” Jaemin cuts off. “When people ask you if you’re dating someone?” 

“I mean, it’s _invasive_ ,” Jeno answers honestly, looking at the way Jaemin tilts his head to the side. “And I’d rather not be forced to answer.”

Jaemin takes a few seconds to digest Jeno’s words, and then he turns back around with his back to Jeno’s chest. 

“So the next time someone asks if you’re dating me… You won’t answer?” 

“Probably not,” Jeno says slowly, honestly. “I also wouldn’t say anything without asking you first.”

“But we’re not actually dating,” Jaemin mumbles, readjusting his grip on Jeno’s arm. “Pose.”

Jeno does as told, but he looks more at Jaemin than he does the camera. He hears the slight click of Jaemin taking the photo, and he wants to ask Jaemin what _he_ wants _him_ to say next time, but he seems intent on taking photos for now. 

Jeno still wonders though, as he rearranges himself to Jaemin’s liking and looks at the camera the way he wants him to, why Jaemin even brought this conversation up in the first place. 

Or why he’s been acting so differently today. 

In a way, it almost gives Jeno hope. But he knows that it’ll be false, either way. 

Especially later that night, when Jeno sees Jaemin’s new Instagram post pop up when he refreshes his feed. 

Jaemin with his long sparkly legs on display between Jeno’s own, head leaned back onto Jeno’s shoulder while he held his arm tenderly. Jeno is looking at Jaemin instead of the camera in the picture, and he wonders if anyone else can see the unabashed adoration. 

His heart gives a jump at the caption, and the way Jaemin looks pretty under purple lights and in his arms. 

**jaeminana** _won’t tell you <3 _

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


It’s a simple affair really: Jaemin doesn’t give Jeno a break.

Every time Jeno opens a social media app, his notifications and mentions are filled with things related to Jaemin. 

Not that he’s _complaining_ , it’s just so much of a one hundred and eighty degree flip that he’s having a hard time understanding it all.

Especially when Jaemin keeps posting in different articles of clothing he’s managed to snag from Jeno whenever they hang out. 

Jeno doesn’t even know _when_ he does it, always seeming to not be paying attention when Jaemin manages to slip by him and to his t-shirts, hoodies, and accessories. 

Sure, he had practically asked Jaemin to take things of _his_ instead of other people’s, but he didn’t think he’d take it literally. 

Which is soon going to be a problem if Jaemin doesn’t give anything back, seeing as Jeno is going to start running out of clothes. 

But he’s Jeno, which means he doesn’t know how to voice something like this to Jaemin, especially when he looks so good in his clothes. 

When Jeno sees him in his shirts which hang below his shoulders, his hoodies whose fabric swallows him up, or his chains and rings which accent his skin prettily. 

Jeno truly is a lost cause. 

So absolutely lost, that the day Jeno thinks he’s gathered enough courage to ask Jaemin to kindly return at least a few items back at first, he loses it all when he sees the newest TikTok video Jaemin posted. 

It’s a trendy song— Jeno knows the number of videos using the song he’s scrolled past is wild, but that doesn’t mean that seeing a video of _Jaemin_ with the song was as simple as it sounds. 

Jeno’s throat runs dry when he sees that the video starts with a thin silver chain between Jaemin’s pretty pink lips, _Jeno’s thin silver chain_ , head tilted back and eyes closed teasingly. Jaemin has never been one to hold back on his page, but this was a different level of, for lack of better words, _sexy_. 

Jeno watches, as if in a trance, as Jaemin lip syncs to lyrics which would normally mean nothing, but mean a lot more since they’re coming from Jaemin. 

_Promiscuous boy,_

_You already know,_

_That I’m all yours,_

_What are you waiting for?_

It’s only after those lyrics that Jaemin lets the chain fall from his mouth. But Jeno doesn’t know if it’s a blessing or a curse as he proceeds to smirk and lip sync,

_Promiscuous girl,_

_You’re teasing me_

_You know what I want,_

_And I got what you need_

Now, Jeno isn’t a girl, but the message doesn’t fly over his head. 

Especially not when Jaemin winks at the camera right before the end.   
  


“What the _hell_ has gotten into you?”

Ah, well Jaemin has been waiting for this question, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have his fun with Renjun before answering. 

He’s glad he’s not looking at Renjun as he smirks to himself, scrolling through comments on his most recent TikTok. They’re all about Jeno, and it makes Jaemin smile. 

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jaemin hums, only narrowly dodging the pile of Jeno’s clothes Renjun throws at him by rolling over on his bed. “Be careful with those, they’re not mine.”

“Oh, that’s a new one. I think I tell you very well that they aren’t yours,” Renjun deadpans, holding up a black muscle tee with various rips along the chest and back. “Care to explain?” 

Jaemin twirls a thick metal ring around his index finger; Jeno’s gold ring with a tiger imprinted on it, and shrugs his shoulders. 

“I should play the part if I’m getting paid for the part, shouldn’t I?” he settles on saying, but he seems to have forgotten that simple excuses like this don’t work on Renjun. He doesn’t really expect anything else from a friend since high school, but he still hopes that sometimes Renjun doesn’t catch onto these things.

How foolish of him.

“Okay, I definitely know that isn’t what you’re thinking,” Renjun sighs, like Jaemin expected he would. “Now are you going to be honest with me if I ask again?”

Renjun asks his question while grabbing Jaemin by the shoulders and making him sit up, gently moving all of Jeno’s things to the side. They cross their legs and sit in front of each other, and Jaemin has a feeling this won’t be a short conversation. 

So reluctantly, Jaemin nods his head. 

“So,” Renjun starts, but it’s with a little smile on his face so Jaemin also tells himself there’s no reason to be this tense. “What’s gotten into you?”

Jaemin sighs, fingers going back to twirling the ring on his finger. He finds it distracting, and he looks past Renjun instead of at him as he formulates an answer. 

He knows very well what the answer is, but he doesn’t know how to put it into words, exactly. 

Which is weird, since Jaemin is normally really good with his words, articulate and well spoken and all of that, but he’s at a loss as of now. 

Maybe it’s because he’s trying to describe something he hasn’t felt before. 

Maybe it’s so foreign, that Jaemin doesn’t even know where to begin. 

The one thing he does know though, is that if there’s anyone he can start to figure out this complicated mess with, it’s Renjun. 

So finally, after weeks of dancing around it, Jaemin voices what he’s been feeling. 

“Do you remember that day Jeno went out to eat with Hyuck—”

“There have been many of those days,” Renjun interrupts, earning an eye roll from Jaemin. 

“Well, if you let me finish, maybe you’ll know what I’m talking about.” At least Renjun has the audacity to look sheepish, but he stays silent so Jaemin can continue. “That day, some girl tweeted about meeting Jeno and asking if he was dating me.”

“You’re still thinking about that? Wasn’t it a month ago?” Renjun asks, and although Jaemin knows he means no harm, he still glares at Renjun for his obvious words. “Okay, okay— sorry. Continue.”

“It just got me thinking… Like why wouldn’t he say anything, y’know? He’s the one who’s so adamant on us _looking_ the part, so when someone asks, why wouldn’t he just give an answer?”

Finally, when he vocalizes it, he realizes, a bit, exactly what his thought process was. He also sees that Renjun realizes too, but he continues before Renjun can open his mouth. 

“And when I asked Jeno about it, it made sense. He didn’t give a definite answer because we didn’t talk about what to do in that case. He didn’t want to put words into my mouth… And it was only then, when I realized I should’ve known that without Jeno having to say something first,” he admits out loud for the first time, and it’s different from admitting it quietly in his head. 

It just feels more real now, said out loud. 

“It was pretty obvious you were jealous. Those pictures you posted? They literally screamed ‘ _back off_ ’,” Renjun scoffs, but Jaemin sees the amused glint in his eyes. He’d get mad at Renjun for that if he didn’t think it was pretty ridiculous now. 

“Good, that was the point,” he mumbles, a small smile breaking onto his face when he sees Renjun’s. When their eyes meet, they both break out laughing. “God, is this really happening? Am I really talking about _Jeno_ ? Wearing _Jeno’s_ ring?” he asks, and disbelief is seeping through every word he speaks.

Renjun is also in disbelief as he tries to take in Jaemin’s words. It’s not everyday, you see Na Jaemin go from being irritated beyond words by someone to now wanting the world to know they should back off. 

“Jaemin… You _like_ him,” Renjun says bluntly, throwing his head back in laughter when Jaemin completely freezes in front of him. It’s different, when you have an inkling you’re ignoring, versus someone telling you plainly to your face. “Well?”

“I don’t like it when other people try to flirt with him,” is all Jaemin says slowly. Renjun doesn’t say anything yet, so Jaemin adds another thing. “Whenever I read a comment saying we look good together I start to smile without even knowing it.” Renjun still doesn’t say anything. “And I like the way he smells.”

Finally, Renjun snorts. 

“The way he _smells_ ? Is that why you keep taking his things?” Renjun asks a joke, but stops laughing when he sees Jaemin flush red all over on his face. “Are you _serious_?” he guffaws, clapping a hand over his mouth so that he doesn’t laugh too loud. If Jaemin kept this up, Renjun’s stomach was going to start cramping. “Oh, you’re helpless, Na Jaemin.”

Jaemin huffs, eyeing his (now that he looks at it, rather large) collection of Jeno’s things, face growing hotter at the sight.

He’s probably being very obvious now, isn’t he? God, he feels like a fool. How can he show his face in front of Jeno now? After coming to all these terms and realisations? 

“By the way… It looks like Jeno duetted your video,” Renjun says, and when Jaemin whips his head around to look at him, he’s looking down at his phone. “Look,” he snorts, looking smug as he hands Jaemin his phone. 

It’s Jaemin’s most recent TikTok, the one he had made with Jeno specifically in mind. He didn’t think Jeno would actually _do_ anything about it, it’s not like he has been lately either. 

Jaemin’s sure his face only gets redder as he watches the video, starting with Jeno looking hot like he always does, lighting a bit dark and blond hair making Jaemin’s heart beat erratically. 

_Promiscuous boy,_

_You already know,_

_That I’m all yours,_

_What are you waiting for?_

And then, like Jeno’s goal was to kill him, Jeno transitions into the next half of the video, him with an identical thin silver chain between his lips, like Jaemin had. 

To someone who didn’t know that Jeno only has one of the necklaces that Jaemin had snagged, they’d think it was the same one. And that simply makes more blood rush to Jaemin’s cheeks.

Jeno continues the video with the chain in his mouth, and Jaemin knows he won’t be able to last more than a day after acknowledging his feelings for Jeno.

_Promiscuous girl,_

_You’re teasing me_

_You know what I want,_

_And I got what you need_

Fuck. 

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


Just as Jaemin had expected, he’s a lost cause two days later, when Jeno comes to meet him in the morning with bagels and coffee. 

It’s not like it’s something he hadn’t done before either, Jeno regularly surprises Jaemin with breakfast without the latter asking. It’s simply another thing which makes his heart lurch violently way too early in the morning. 

Nonetheless, he appreciates the gesture more than he lets on. How sweet of Jeno, isn’t it?

“Are you okay?” Jeno asks, like Jaemin had hoped he wouldn’t. But he doesn’t even know who he’s fooling, as it isn’t himself, and it definitely isn’t Jeno. 

He curses his cheeks for betraying him, who could he trust if he can’t even trust his own system? Jaemin hates it here. 

“Totally,” he answers, and hopes Jeno doesn’t see him wince when he realizes how unnatural of a reaction that is for him. God, they’ve spoken less than ten sentences and everything is already a mess. How embarrassing, maybe if Jaemin had regular crushes growing up, he’d know how to act. 

Alas, he’s at a pathetic loss. To Jeno, at that, someone who’s probably used to people drooling over him. 

_I mean, who wouldn’t? With those arms, that hair, the way his thighs look in skinny jeans—_

Jaemin stops himself right there, not keen on thinking about the fact that other people were looking at Jeno’s thighs.

 _As if you have a reason to_ , the rational part of his brain supplies, and Jaemin almost scoffs out loud. _Pervert. And you had the audacity to think Jeno was sleazy._

“Are you listening to me?”

The sound of Jeno’s skeptical voice as he asks a question is what finally breaks Jaemin out of his thoughts, and he’d be short of bumping into a bench in their path if it weren’t for the arm Jeno wraps around his waist to steer him clear.

_Oh, you pathetic heart, is that all it takes?_

“Jaemin, did you sleep last night?” Jeno asks, and when Jaemin looks over he seems overly concerned. His heart beats a little faster again at the prospect of Jeno being worried about him, but then his brain catches up with his heart and he realizes he should probably answer his question. 

“Of course I did,” he says, taking a sip of his iced coffee to cool himself down from the way Jeno still has an arm around him. He can’t continue with a face as flushed as his is currently. 

“Then why are you so out of it?” 

Jeno’s eyebrows are furrowed when Jaemin casts him a glance out of his peripheral, and he has to will himself to look away so that his heart doesn’t combust right then and there. 

Maybe he should make it so that he doesn’t meet Jeno this early in the morning. It seems like it’s not so good for his blood pressure. 

“Just one of those days, y’know…” he mumbles, hoping that Jeno drops it. 

And he does… Sort of.

“Well, there’s a party tonight,” he starts, pulling Jaemin closer until their hips are touching as they walk. 

Jaemin thinks they probably look ridiculous to other people watching them. 

“Again?” Jaemin mumbles, remembering how Jeno has asked him to come to a party yesterday, which he said no to. 

“They're everyday babe,” Jeno laughs, squeezing his hip before continuing. “But there’s one tonight, if you wanna go.”

“Are you going?” Jaemin asks immediately, to which Jeno grins. 

“I always go,” he shrugs. “And my invites are always extended to you.”

Jaemin doesn’t know if that phrase should evoke a reaction from him, but it does. He doesn’t know what that says about him as a person either. 

“Alright,” he says finally, finishing up whatever coffee was left in his cup. “I’ll go with you.”

“I’ll pick you up,” Jeno smiles, and although he knows it’s a risk, he looks at Jeno and takes in his crescent moons.

How detrimental to the weak of heart. 

Jaemin was the weak of heart. 

“Okay,” he breathes out, looking away at the last second when Jeno catches his eyes. Jaemin wonders since when he was so unhinged. 

He refuses to look at Jeno anymore after that, afraid he’d let his true feelings slip. 

But it’s because of that reason that he misses the fond look Jeno sends his way.

All he feels is a thumb rubbing circles over his waist. 

  
  
  


This time, Jaemin doesn’t have Renjun’s help to choose an outfit, the latter declining Donghyuck’s invite in favour of staying in to study. 

Donghyuck must be really whipped, since he said he’d help Renjun study instead of going to the party. 

This leaves Jaemin to his own devices as he sifts through his closet, indecisive between all his articles of clothing. 

He thinks he’ll wear a skirt, but then he finds a nice pair of leather pants, but then he sees a nice pair of jeans— 

And he’s at a loss for what top to wear too, fingertips grazing a green crop top, a blue tank top, and a red hoodie. 

He feels helpless, and he feels like Renjun had the weird ability to read his mind when he hears a knock on his door. 

Except it’s not Renjun, his saving grace and only hope, but Jeno who stands there in all his hot boy glory. 

“What're you doing here?” Jaemin blurts out, feeling himself flush red when Jeno cocks up an inquisitive eyebrow. He wonders why it’s so attractive. 

“Was this not the time we agreed on?” Jeno asks, but he looks amused as he takes his eyes over Jaemin’s appearance. 

It’s then that Jaemin realizes that he does look like quite a mess. His shorts have been long due for a wash, and his t-shirt is long, baggy, and worn. The only thing that looks okay is his hair, already having styled it into waves which fall over his forehead.

It’s also only then that he realizes that it is indeed already 9pm, the time they had agreed to meet to go to the party. 

“Oh,” he ends up saying dumbly, blinking a few times before opening his door wider. “Come inside. I don’t know what to wear.”

“ _You_ don’t know what to wear?” Jeno repeats incredulously, like he didn’t believe Jaemin. “That’s a first.”

While Jaemin admits it’s a first, he won’t let Jeno tease him about it. But he doesn’t even get a chance to say anything else before Jeno is walking over to his closet like he owned the place.

Perhaps this is how he felt every time Jaemin walked into Jeno’s closet to grab something like it was his own 

“You should wear this blue colour,” he says, gently removing a pastel blue ribbed crop top from Jaemin’s hanger. “With your hair, it makes you look like cotton candy.”

Jaemin catches the shirt when Jeno tosses it his way, and can’t deny that the two pastel colours do resemble cotton candy. 

“And this skirt is cute, but if you wanna wear pants, these ones are also pretty,”

Jeno holds our two articles of clothing in his hands, one holding up a pair of white flared pants, and the other holding up a tight skirt in a darker shade of pastel blue. 

Jaemin smirks at the choices, but snatches the skirt from Jeno’s hands. 

“Nice choice,” he mumbles, watching as he fumbles with his closet once again, just to bring out a white cardigan. It’s a bit on the longer side, fluffy and ends right above his knees.

“If you're cold,” Jeno reasons with a smile on his face, one that makes Jaemin snort. 

“Gee, thanks,” he says, rolling his eyes as he gathers the cardigan from Jeno’s hand. “I’ll go change. Don’t break anything while I’m gone.”

“You have no faith in me,” Jeno pouts, and Jaemin turns his back to go to the bathroom before his heart decides to explode. 

“You’re right,”

With that, Jaemin shuts the door closed behind him and gets changed. 

He credits Jeno for choosing clothes that go well together, finding the top form fitting, the skirt accentuating his legs, and the cardigan adding a cute look.

Jaemin walks out of the bathroom, blushing pink when Jeno stares at him, frozen.

“Staring is rude,” he mumbles, sitting down at his vanity and remembering how he’d said this to Jeno before, when they filmed their first TikTok together. 

Oh, that wasn’t too pleasant of a memory.

“You look really good,” Jeno says after a few more moments of silence. He sits watching from Jaemin’s bed. 

“Yeah? You’re okay looking as well, I guess,” Jaemin says, internally wincing at how awkward that sounds. 

From the reflection in the mirror, Jaemin hopes it doesn’t look like it’s obvious as he stares at the simple fitted black t-shirt across Jeno’s chest, or the black, ripped, skinny jeans with chains dangling from the belt loops. 

The grey flannel makes him look more dangerous than necessary, and Jaemin quickly looks away to continue his makeup. 

Jeno snorts, but other than that he pulls his phone out and waits quietly for Jaemin to finish his makeup. 

It’s a simple affair because Jaemin doesn’t do much today, or maybe it’s because it’s suffocating when he’s alone with Jeno and terribly aware of how violently his heart beats around him. Either way, Jaemin gets up from his chair and picks up his phone before letting Jeno know he’s ready to go.

Jaemin is acutely aware of Jeno’s eyes on him as he ties the laces on his white chunky shoes, but does his best to ignore it so he doesn’t mess up and fumble with the laces for the third time. 

“You’re really pretty, you know,” Jeno mumbles while Jaemin moves onto his second shoe, and Jaemin is suddenly glad he’s looking down. 

“Thanks,” he settles on saying, standing back up and hoping Jeno doesn’t catch his blush. “Let’s go?” 

Jeno catches Jaemin off guard by grabbing his hand as they leave his dorm room, and Jaemin can feel his heart thumping against his chest when their fingers mood together. 

Jeno will be the death of him, he’s sure about it.

“You have a skateboard?” Jaemin asks when he sees what Jeno has left propped up against the wall in the hallway. 

“Oh, yeah,” the other answers plainly, stepping onto the board without using his hands and starting to glide through the hallway. 

Because of the hand Jeno is still holding, Jaemin is forced to trail after him at an awkward pace, but the sight of Jeno effortlessly skating down the hall is too hot for Jaemin to complain. 

Once they’ve made it outside the building, the cool night air hits them in the face, and Jaemin is suddenly glad Jeno had dressed him in a cardigan. 

“Can I…” Jaemin pipes up after a few minutes of following beside Jeno. “Can I try?” 

Jeno slows down on his skateboard and turns to Jaemin with his eyebrows raised. 

“You know how to skate?” he asks, hopping off of the board and gesturing for Jaemin to hop on. 

“Well,” Jaemin says sheepishly, clearing his throat and tentatively stepping onto the board one foot at a time. The wheels move under him, but his hands are quick to fall onto Jeno’s shoulders for balance. “Not really?”

Jeno only looks like he has a weird mixture of fondness and amusement on his face as he gently takes both of Jaemin’s hands into his own.

“That’s all right. For now, you can stick to me,” he grins, stepping onto the front half of the skateboard and guiding Jaemin’s arms around his middle. “Hold on tight.”

And then Jeno is skating away, the wheels loud against the gravel and the wind whistling in Jaemin’s ears. It makes Jaemin hold onto him tighter, feeling like he’s on a ride as Jeno skates them closer to their destination. 

It’s not far since they’re not walking, but he is a bit wobbly when he gets off of the board. 

“Will you teach me?” Jaemin blurts, as he watches Jeno lean his skateboard along the outside on the wall of the house the party's at. 

When Jeno turns around, he’s smirking. 

“It’ll be a date.”

They step into the party after that, and Jaemin is glad for the distraction of loud music and the mass of bodies so that he can’t dwell on Jeno’s words. 

They’re back to holding hands, and Jaemin tells himself it’s only so that they don’t get separated, and not because he made the first move and laced their fingers together. 

Jeno doesn’t seem to mind though, so Jaemin won’t let go just yet. 

It only seems to occur to him now, when they’re deep inside the house, that Jaemin doesn’t know anyone here. He doesn’t have many friends to begin with, Renjun being the only one he hangs out with during his free time.

Other than that, he has a few acquaintances from class and people who are Renjun’s friends, but that’s about where it ends. And it makes him feel awkward as they get stopped every few steps by someone Jeno knows.

A fist bump there, a hug here, and sometimes a drink passed to him. Jaemin didn’t realize Jeno was so popular, but he’s also been keeping to himself a lot since he’s started school. 

He wonders though, if he would’ve met Jeno earlier if he actually tried to make friends with other people. 

Anyways, that thought gets brushed away when Jeno declines the third drink, and the second joint someone offers him. 

“You’re not drinking?” Jaemin asks when they finally find somewhere quiet, where he doesn't need to yell too loudly to have a conversation. 

Jeno only shakes his head, holding a can of beer in one hand and holding it out to Jaemin questioningly. When the latter nods, Jeno gives it to him.

“Nope, I’m responsible for you tonight,” he winks, leaning back against the counter and watching as Jaemin cracks open his can and takes a sip. “Gotta get you home safely babe.”

Ah, and there Jeno goes again with the nicknames. Jaemin shouldn’t have been naive enough to think there was an end to those. 

“I can take care of myself,” he mumbles over the rim of his can, and Jeno only smiles at him before looking around.

“I’m sure you can princess, but I like taking care of you,” he says simply, and Jaemin almost chokes on the beer passing down his throat. 

Oh, he’ll definitely need more than one beer if he’s to deal with Jeno alone for the rest of the night. 

Which is exactly what he gets, because Jeno doesn’t stop him when he grabs different drinks after finishing his previous one, and keeps a watchful eye on his cup or can when he’s too fuzzy and looking at something else. 

It doesn’t take long, for the buzz in his veins to excite him, or the alcohol in his system to do what it always does: make him extroverted and clingy. 

But that’s something he doesn’t have to deal with right now. For now, he simply has his eyes set on Jeno. 

“Jeno-ya~”

Maybe, if he were sober, he’d feel terribly embarrassed by wrapping himself around Jeno’s arm and resting his head onto his shoulder. Even more so, when he sees the people who Jeno was talking to looking at him weirdly. 

But it’s only Jeno, who doesn’t give him a weird look. 

Instead, he smiles at Jaemin and brushes the hair out of his eyes affectionately, attention effectively ripped away from the other people around him.

All he can see right now is Jaemin’s flushed cheeks, and the pretty way his lips are pushed into a pout. If they were standing closer, Jeno doesn’t doubt that he’d be able to smell the alcohol on the other’s breath either. 

“Hello, Nana,” Jeno says, watching happily as Jaemin shuffles impossibly closer. “How are you feeling?” 

“A little sleepy,” he answers honestly, looking up at Jeno with big pouty eyes. “But I’m thirsty.”

“Let’s get you water,” Jeno sighs, gently helping Jaemin walk to the kitchen, so that he doesn’t trip over his own feet. 

The whole trek to the kitchen consists of Jaemin keeping his arm around Jeno’s, walking so close to him that they’re practically shuffling together. Tomorrow is when he can be embarrassed about it, because for now Jeno feels comfortable and safe. 

He hands Jaemin a glass of water, and makes him drink the whole thing before anything else. 

“Jeno, I have an idea,” Jaemin blurts out when he puts his now empty glass back down. Now he’s the one leaning against the counter as Jeno stands in front of him. 

“Hm, what is it?” Jeno asks, leaning in closer and trapping the younger between his arms against the counter. If anyone were to ask, he can say it’s so that he can hear Jaemin better like this. 

One of Jaemin’s hands come up to trace along his shoulder, where the fabric of his flannel sits. 

“I feel bad,” Jaemin starts, pouting. “Taking everything from you. Clothes, jackets, necklaces, rings… I stole a lot, didn't I?” Jaemin huffs, and it makes Jeno tilt his head as he leans in a bit closer. 

“I wouldn’t really call it _stealing_ ,” he mutters, wondering what exactly it is Jaemin is thinking about. “Is that all you had to say?”

Jaemin shakes his head. 

“I’ll give you my clothes in return.”

The smile on Jeno’s face drops. 

“What?”

“I’ll give them to you! Right now!” Jaemin repeats, shrugging his cardigan off rapidly and shoving it into Jeno’s arms. 

Jeno’s face turns white at all the sudden wolf whistles Jaemin gets, and all the eyes on him. And then, he sees Jaemin’s hands reach for the hem of his crop top. 

“Jaemin!” he hisses, pulling him closer to himself by the shoulders and loosely placing the cardigan onto him again. “Are you crazy? You can’t just take off your clothes!” 

“But—” Jaemin starts with another pout, being ushered out of the kitchen by Jeno. 

“But nothing, you lunatic,” Jeno grunts, opening the bathroom door and glad to see no one is in there. The only thing running through his mind now is making sure people stop ogling Jaemin like he’s a piece of meat. 

However, once he locks the bathroom door behind them and turns back to Jaemin, he blanches. 

“Why are you crying?” he asks frantically, one of his hands coming up the swipe away at Jaemin’s tear. But Jaemin doesn’t let him, turning his head to the side before Jeno can touch him. “Sweetheart—”

“I just wanted to make things even,” he whines, stomping his foot down childishly. Jeno wonders what sober Jaemin would say about this if he saw himself. “And it would’ve been such a nice TikTok idea— you can wear my clothes and I can wear yours!” 

Jeno didn’t think it was possible, but he thinks he pales once again. 

“Jaemin, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he starts slowly, gently. “Your skirts look great on _you_ but I don’t think—” 

Jaemin cuts him off with a sniffle, and the biggest, poutiest eyes he’s ever seen on him.

“Jeno,” he whines, taking just one, dangerous step closer. He grips onto the open sides of Jeno’s flannel, and Jeno’s heart is faring terribly. “Please?”

And how was Jeno ever to say no to that? 

It’s because of his absolute weakness for Jaemin, that Jeno finds his hips squeezed into a skirt ten minutes later, Jaemin swimming in his clothes, and a TikTok filmed on Jaemin’s phone. 

Once the internet gets a hold of this, he’ll never hear the end of it. 

But somehow, the giggles Jaemin lets out at the final product of the video makes it all worth it. 

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


When sunlight hits right over Jaemin’s eyelids, he wakes up. 

With a headache splitting his head open, Jaemin buries his head deeper into his pillow, desperate to make the ache go away. 

But alas, it’s not that simple, and Jaemin is left to pay for the consequences of his actions. 

When he moves around a little bit, the skin on his legs don’t rub against each other, and all it takes is a few more seconds before he realizes he’s changed into sweatpants. 

He doesn’t remember when that happened, but he’s glad. Sleeping in skirts was a horrible experience. 

Jaemin can feel the sleepiness leave his system, and as dreadful as it is, he knows he’s becoming more awake and alert.

He sighs right after he yawns, and makes way to bring his hand up to rub the last remnants of drowsiness out of his eyes. 

However, his arm seems to be kept down by some weight, and when he tries to wriggle it free, he hears a grunt, which most definitely did not escape his own mouth. 

Looking down at his arm, Jaemin sees his blanket covering it. 

He pulls the blanket up cautiously, and feels his heart stop when he sees an arm that definitely wasn't his, and another pair of legs tangled with his own. 

And then,

“Morning, pretty,”

Jaemin yelps, looking up and coming face to face with Jeno, who looks stupidly good for someone who's just woken up. 

“Why are you here?” he asks, cheeks tinting themselves red when he registers that their legs are still intertwined, and that if he moved even an inch more, he’d be able to feel Jeno’s breath on the skin of his neck. 

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” Jeno counters, and his indirect answers make Jaemin’s headache worse. “Why did you not let me go?”

Mortified, Jaemin turns onto his side and faces away from Jeno. His eyes squeeze shut in embarrassment, and he doesn’t have to be looking to know that Jeno is smirking. Sometimes, Jaemin thinks Jeno rivals Renjun for the title of being the devil reincarnated. 

“Dunno what you’re talking about,” he grumbles, wishing he could dissolve into the mattress. 

“I’m not surprised,” Jeno hums, and Jaemin feels Jeno’s thumb rubbing circles on the inside of his wrist, where he’s still holding on. “You were out of orbit, babe,” he snickers, and Jaemin finds himself elbowing Jeno before he can even think about it. “Ow— okay, okay, what do you want?” Jeno groans, sitting up and waiting for Jaemin’s answer. 

“Ibuprofen,” he grumbles, pulling the covers over his face and peeping only one eye out to watch Jeno teeter around his room, helplessly guessing where Jaemi keeps his ibuprofen. “It’s in the desk drawer,” he says, finding himself smiling and suddenly glad that his face is covered. 

Jeno makes his way to Jaemin’s desk, successfully finding the ibuprofen and handing Jaemin one pill, along with a bottle of water. 

“Thanks,” he mutters, swallowing the pill and drinking his water as Jeno takes a seat next to him again on the bed. 

Jaemin grabs his phone after, glad to see that it’s been plugged in and charged. He checks his messages with Renjun first to see if there’s anything important he’s missed, and moves onto social media when he’s done. 

His notifications are packed as always, but there’s something that catches Jaemin’s eye this time.

As he scrolls through his Twitter notifications, there’s an awful lot of tweets talking about Jeno in a skirt. 

He’s confused for all of ten seconds before it must show on his face, since Jeno hums right in his ear, looking at his phone screen over his shoulder. 

“If you thought keeping me here all night wasn’t bad enough,” he starts, bringing his hand out and exiting out of Twitter on Jaemin’s phone and opening up Tiktok. 

Jaemin feels dread sink to the bottom of his stomach. Just what the hell did he do? 

“Then you should see the TikTok you insisted on making last night.”

Jaemin’s fingers scramble to look at his profile, catching the thumbnail of his most recent posted video, sitting at a whopping _23.8M views._

Frantic, Jaemin taps on the video, just to see him and Jeno in front of a mirror for five seconds before Jeno flicks the light switch off, and then on, but this time in Jaemin’s clothes. 

While Jaemin is in Jeno’s clothes. 

And suddenly, he laughs.

“You—” he starts, unable to form a full sentence as he keeps watching the video over and over again, just to see how miserable Jeno looks in clothes which are obviously too tight for him. 

“Yeah,” Jeno hums, and he sounds way more unbothered than he looks in the video. 

“You could’ve just not done it, you know,” Jaemin giggles, looking through some of the comments and liking the ones which talk about how Jeno actually looks good in a skirt. 

“You were crying,” Jeno deadpans, effectively making Jaemin freeze what he was doing. 

Now it was Jeno’s turn to laugh. 

“No I wasn’t,” he denies immediately, even though his memory of last night is completely hazy. 

“Yes you were,” Jeno counters, crowding up in Jaemin’s space until he was leaning back against his headboard. “You were all like ‘ _Jeno I feel so bad when I take your clothes. Jeno, please?’_ ” Jeno mocks in a high pitched voice, something which makes Jaemin flush red and push him away.

“I do _not_ sound like that,” he grumbles, finally getting out of bed and grabbing some fresh clothes to wear. 

“You don’t have a distinct sound where you’re drunk, but alright,” Jeno shrugs. “I’m gonna take some of my clothes back now though, can I use your shower?” 

Jaemin turns around in time to see Jeno sorting the pile of his things, and Jaemin blushes even more at the embarrassing amount of Jeno’s things here. 

“Yeah, whatever. I’ll leave you a spare toothbrush too,” the younger mumbles, hiding in the bathroom before Jeno can say anything else that’ll make his cheeks flame so hot he wouldn’t be surprised if they melted off of his face. 

Jaemin takes his time getting clean, scrubbing all the sweat and grime from last night away and using his favourite peach scented soaps and exfoliants. 

He’d feel bad about making Jeno wait if he wasn’t sure he was entertaining himself somehow, probably looking at what other comments people had about their video.

Jaemin opens the bathroom door when he’s done brushing his teeth, grabbing a new brush from the cupboard under the sink and leaving it out for Jeno. 

“I left you a red toothbrush,” he says as he walks back to his bed, towelling his hair dry. 

“Thanks,” Jeno says as he gets up, picking up his clothes. “Do you wanna get breakfast when I’m done?”

Jaemin was going to use the excuse of having class so that he can give his heart a break, but he upsettingly realizes that it’s Saturday. 

“Only if I can choose the place,” he settles on answering, and his heart flutters when he hears Jeno chuckle. 

“What the princess wants, the princess gets.”

  
  


True to his word, Jeno skates Jaemin to his dorm, just to drive Jaemin fifteen minutes off of campus to go to his favourite brunch spot. He also lets Jaemin play the music, but that wasn’t relevant. 

Brunch is a simple affair, where Jaemin marvels how much Jeno eats, and where Jeno wonders how someone can drink a milkshake so extremely sweet in the morning. 

Back in the car after eating though, Jaemin throws Jeno a curious glance when he doesn’t start driving, even after a few minutes. 

“What’s up? Stuffed?” Jaemin jokes, but Jeno only rolls his eyes and takes his phone out. 

“I wanna film something,” he says instead, bringing his wallet out to use as a stand to prop his phone against. He puts both items on the dashboard, setting it up so that they were both in frame. 

“What is it?” Jaemin asks again, trying to read the name of the audio Jeno chose. But when he looks, there’s nothing there. “No music?”

“I’ll add it later,” Jeno waves off, fixing his hair a little and taking a few breaths. “Just act natural, okay? Pretend like we’re not even filming.”

Jaemin pouts at the instructions, but sits back in the passenger's seat anyways. 

“Can’t you just tell me?” he whines, but Jeno only shakes his head amusedly. “Fine. Be difficult.” 

Jeno grins, but Jaemin doesn’t catch it. Instead, Jaemin only looks down at his phone and continues to text Renjun, half heartedly reading all the explicit details of the ‘study night’ he had with Donghyuck. 

He doesn’t see Jeno move much next to him, so he doesn’t pay it any mind either. He wonders what it is exactly Jeno wants to film when neither of them are doing anything, but it’s then that he hears the squeak of the leather seat to his left. 

It happens too fast for Jaemin to understand what’s happening, but one second he’s looking up from his phone screen to see Jeno’s face moving closer to his over the center console, and the next Jeno’s fingers are brushing over his cheek and their lips are touching. 

Jaemin gasps softly, phone falling from his fingers in shock and lips unmoving where they feel the caress of Jeno’s. 

When Jaemin feels Jeno start to pull away, his hand flies up to Jeno’s wrist, keeping it there. 

“Wait,” he breathes out, tentatively looking into Jeno’s eyes through his eyelashes. All he sees is that they’re wide. “You wanted to do the ‘kissing my best friend’ trend, didn’t you?” he asks in a whisper, watching still as Jeno nods, slowly. 

He doesn’t say anything to that, letting his eyes flicker down to Jeno’s lips and catching them between his own again.

Jeno kisses back enthusiastically this time, tilting his head to the side and getting a stronger grip on Jaemin’s jaw, holding him in place the way he likes. 

Jaemin’s gut swirls with heat when Jeno’s tongue prods at the seam of his lips, and his mouth falls open around a soft moan, letting Jeno’s tongue in with easy access. 

“Fuck, you’re a good kisser,” Jaemin mutters, his own hand pulling Jeno even closer by the back of his neck. “And you taste like bacon.”

“You taste like sugar,” Jeno manages to groan, breath hitching when Jaemin’s other hand lands on his thigh, gripping the denim clad area in his hand. “Jaemin—”

“Don’t talk,” Jaemin cuts off, hairs stood up on the back of his neck and spine tingling with pleasure from Jeno’s warm breath on his skin. “Just say red if you want me to stop.”

Jaemin can see Jeno gulp, but other than that he only nods his head and continues kissing Jaemin, moving down from his mouth and onto his jaw, neck, and collarbones. 

Jaemin’s own hand travels higher up Jeno’s thigh until it rests over his half hard erection, the zipper between his fingers and his length straining against the fabric. 

“Mm, fuck Jeno,” Jaemin gasps, feeling his skin being teethed between Jeno’s teeth, the sensation sending sparks through his entire body. “Keep doing that and you’re gonna get your dick sucked.”

“You sure know how to bargain with a man,” the other snickers, but he doesn’t stop his ministrations and continues to tease Jaemin’s skin the way he had asked for it. 

“R-Recline your seat,” Jaemin breathes out, eyes shut in bliss and bottom lip caught between his teeth. “And sit back.”

Jeno does as told without any further prompting, and his mouth reconnects with Jaemin’s mouth when he leans over the center console again. 

Jeno lets Jaemin suck on his tongue as he unzips his jeans and takes his hard cock out, letting it stand up, flushed. 

Jaemin doesn’t hesitate before wrapping his hand around the length, stroking up and down rapidly and relishing in the way Jeno’s breath catches, and the groans he lets out. 

Jeno feels hot and heavy in his hand, and it makes his mouth water even more. Reluctantly, Jaemin pulls away from their kiss, pecking Jeno’s lips once more before he makes eye contact with Jeno, and leans down until he’s face to face with Jeno’s arousal. 

Jaemin finally breaks eye contact by tentatively taking the tip between his swollen lips, lapping up the precome and swirling his tongue in an experimental way.

By the way Jeno grunts above him, Jaemin guesses it was the right move. 

Feeling braver, and spurred on from Jeno’s sounds, Jaemin slowly takes more and more into his mouth, until he makes a choked out sound halfway down.

“Shit, baby don’t push yourself,” Jeno says shakily, one of his hands coming down to rest gently on his head, combing through the strands of his hair comfortingly. “You already feel so good.” 

Encouraged, and because Jeno’s nicknames unleash a swarm of butterflies in his stomach, Jaemin remains enthusiastic as he bobs his head up and down, and uses his hand to stimulate what his mouth can’t reach. 

“That’s perfect, doll, you’re good at this aren't you?” Jeno moans, his fingers flexing in Jaemin’s hair just a little. “You look so pretty like this, almost as if you were meant for it,” he hums, and Jaemin feels like he’s going to explode. 

How does Jeno manage to be so _hot_ all the time?

When Jeno gets louder and the grip in Jaemin’s hair gets tighter, Jaemin knows Jeno is close. He hallows his cheeks and uses more of his tongue as he tries to finish Jeno off, looking up at the other with his big and doe-like eyes. 

The sight alone is what makes Jeno reach his orgasm, moaning deeply and throwing his head back against the seat as euphoria pulses through his veins and tingles run down his spine. 

Jeno doesn’t get much time to breathe, or come down from his high, before Jaemin comes back up and kisses him once more. 

Jeno can taste remnants of himself on Jaemin’s tongue, and it makes his gut swirl all over again. 

It seems like it makes Jaemin feel the same thing, one of the younger’s hands coming to guide Jeno’s hand to his own lap. 

“Baby,” he mutters against Jaemin’s lips, looking into his eyes when they pull apart, panting. “I’d love nothing more than to get you off, but I don’t want to ruin your pretty skirt. Next time, okay?” 

Jaemin whines, hand squeezing Jeno’s in a silent plea. 

“You don’t want stains on your skirt, do you Nana?” he asks, and Jaemin shakes his head no, sombrely. Jeno smiles. “That’s what I thought. 

“I’ll have you screaming my name next time though, I promise.”   
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


Jaemin expects all possible repercussions for his actions, except for Jeno showing up with a skateboard two days later. 

“You need to stop doing this,” Jaemin says weakly, and he doesn’t know if he’s referring to Jeno catching him off guard with his presence in his own dorm, or if it’s Jeno’s outfit which renders him breathless. 

It’s a simple black t-shirt over simple denim baggy jeans but Jaemin feels like he’s going to explode. It wouldn’t be the first time Jeno’s made him feel like this. 

“I like the element of surprise,” Jeno shrugs, letting himself into the room. “Put on some comfy shoes, we’re going skateboarding.”

“Today?” Jaemin squeaks at the sudden announcement, hands immediately scrambling to his pants to see if he needed to change what he was wearing. 

“Well, I didn’t want to keep you waiting for a date,” Jeno answers simply, and then his eyes look Jaemin up and down. It feels like he’s undressing him with his eyes, but Jaemin pushes that thought away quickly as well. “You’re dressed appropriately, some sneakers and you’re good.”

“These are sweatpants,” Jaemin deadpans, as if Jeno didn’t know that himself. He makes his way to his closet, hand immediately grabbing a black skirt. “I’ll just change and—”

“Don’t wear a skirt,” Jeno cuts off, walking closer to Jaemin and taking the garment out of Jaemin’s hands. He puts it back in his closet, and smiles at Jaemin with his head tilted to the side. “I promised you something.” 

Immediately, Jaemin understands what Jeno is talking about, and he feels his face light itself on fire as he shoves Jeno away by the chest. 

All that’s left to listen to is Jeno’s chuckles. 

“Your pink shoes would look nice,” Jeno says once Jaemin goes to pull on his socks. “Actually, anything you wear will look nice.”

“We get it, you think I look nice,” Jaemin sighs, rolling his eyes and grabbing his pink sneakers so that Jeno wouldn’t have to see the way he’s smiling like a fool. 

And anyways, he wasn’t _wrong_ when he said the pink sneakers would look nice. His sweatpants are a dark grey and his white crop top ends just a little above his belly button. The pastel pink looks nice with them. 

“I do,” Jeno agrees, sitting down next to Jaemin on the floor, where the latter is tying his shoelaces. Jaemin moves on to the second pair of laces, but Jeno doesn’t let him, taking the two strings into his own hands and delicately tying them into a bow for him.

“I can tie my laces by myself,” Jaemin grumbles, though on the inside, he’s endeared by the gesture. 

“You can do everything by yourself,” Jeno hums, taking his time to make sure the two excess pieces are the same length. “Doesn’t mean I’m gonna let you.” 

Jaemin turns to face Jeno the same time Jeno turns to face him, and he’s about to say thank you, but then Jeno leans in, and now they’re kissing. 

And it’s softer than the last time they kissed, because Jeno is gentle, and his mouth molds with Jaemin's mouth slowly, and it gives Jaemin all the butterflies. 

Every single one of those flappy bastards render him useless, kissing Jeno back equally as softly since it’s the only thing he’s capable of doing right now. 

Jaemin feels fingers brush along his cheek, and he leans into the palm which cups his face, the hand which can no doubt feel the trace of fire on his face. He’d be more embarrassed if Jeno’s tongue didn’t gently prod at the seam of his lips right that second. 

Jaemin gasps, effectively inviting the other boy’s tongue into his mouth and melting into the feeling of it exploring his mouth. Along the roof of his mouth, over the back of his teeth, against his own tongue. 

He thinks things are going to escalate, right when Jeno pulls away slowly, a thin strand of saliva connecting their lips. 

“I like it when your lips are dark like this,” Jeno whispers, his thumb snagging on Jaemin’s bottom lip, pulling the swell of it down just a little. 

“I could’ve just worn lipgloss,” he mutters, and when Jeno still hasn’t moved his thumb after a few seconds, Jaemin kisses it. 

Jeno’s eyes darken. 

“I like this way better. Don’t you?”

Jeno asks the question as he gets up from the floor, and Jaemin is reminded only then that they’re even on the floor. He holds a hand out for Jaemin, and pulls him up when the latter grabs on. 

Jaemin nods to Jeno’s question, and Jeno doesn’t let go of his hand as they make their way out of his dorm, with the skateboard in tow. 

  
  
  


Jeno chooses a skate park that’s twenty minutes away from their campus, and it has Jaemin complaining the entire way about how _mean_ Jeno was for coming to him unannounced, and making him exercise like this. 

Jaemin doesn’t know it, but Jeno had recorded a video of him complaining, for his Instagram story, when he wasn’t paying attention. 

He can laugh about the other’s reaction later, but for now, he’s glad the skate park is empty, so that there aren’t too many eyes on Jaemin. He knows the latter hates it when there are so many people watching him do something for the first time. 

“Alright, come here,” Jeno starts, gesturing for Jaemin to come towards where he’s standing, just off of a tiny delciming ramp. It’s the biggest space of just flat area, and there’s grass behind them if needed. “The first thing you need to do is find your balance.”

Jeno is standing on one side of the skateboard, so Jaemin stands parallel, facing him. Jeno holds both his hands out, and Jaemin doesn’t hesitate before grabbing them both. Jeno’s hands are only a bit bigger than his, but it’s enough for him to notice and swoon over. 

“Step on, I won’t let go,” he instructs softly, and when Jaemin can’t help but look at him nervously, Jeno only smiles and nods his head encouragingly. For extra measure, he even squeezes Jaemin’s hands. 

If he doesn’t die from trying to ride a skateboard, then he definitely will while trying to learn how to if Jeno keeps this up. 

One foot at a time, Jaemin steps onto the skateboard and wobbles just a little, but Jeno tells him to relax so he tries his best to. 

“I’m just going to pull you along so that you get used to the feeling, okay?” Jeno says, and when Jaemin nods, he starts taking small steps to the side, only walking faster when Jaemin’s knees stop wobbling and adjust to the pace. 

“How did you learn to skate?” Jaemin asks, wanting to fill the silence with something. A conversation would do. 

“Donghyuck and I learned with some middle school friends,” he explains, looping them around to walk back to where they started. Well, Jeno is walking, Jaemin is skating. Kind of. “I still have some scars from learning.”

“Scars?” Jaemin repeats, just a little curious, He wonders where they are on Jeno’s body, and if one day, he’ll be able to see them. 

“Mhm, from falling onto rocks and concrete. We weren’t the smartest kids back then,” he laughs it off now, and Jaemin finds a small smile coming onto his lips too. He can picture it, clumsy Jeno and clumsy Donghyuck, falling off of their skateboards and getting scolded by their parents when they come home battered and bruised. 

“What makes you think you’ve gotten any smarter?” Jaemin teases, and yelps when Jeno picks up the pace of his walking as reprimantion for what Jaemin said. 

“My scholarship,” he huffs, and oh, Jaemin almost forgot he had that. 

Intelligence, it was terribly attractive on a man. 

“I’m gonna let go now, and you’re gonna be fine,” Jeno says casually, like he was talking about the weather. Jaemin doesn’t even have time to panic and shake his head before Jeno lets go, and Jaemin tenses immediately. 

He tries to keep standing up straight, knowing that he’d fall right onto his face if he didn’t. Or his ass. And he couldn’t do that, they were both his most valuable parts. 

“See,” Jeno grins, looking smug where he stands a foot away, arms crossed over his chest. “Not terribly difficult. Either you’ve done this before or you’re a natural.”

“I’ve figure-skated before,” he admits sheepishly, looking away when Jeno raises his eyebrows. “When I was a kid. Maybe that’s where it’s from.”

“Perhaps,” Jeno hums, walking closer again and holding one of Jaemin’s hands as he gets off of the board. “Anyways, since you’re kind of a professional at this—” he ignores the way Jaemin rolls his eyes. “—I was thinking I could teach you a trick.”

“So soon?” Jaemin asks, surprised. He watches as Jeno steps onto the skateboard, still for two seconds before he gets off, flips the board upside down and leaves the tips of his toes underneath it. He jumps, the board flipping 180° below him, and he lands back on his two feet, right onto the skateboard.

Jaemin’s face pales a little. 

“You’re now trying to give _me_ scars,” he whines, shaking his head when Jeno tries to pull him onto the skateboard with him. “Jeno, I’m gonna fall flat on my face.”

“As amusing as that’d be,” Jeno starts, snorting when Jaemin reluctantly gets onto the board next to him. “I’d never let you fall, sweetheart. Don’t you know that by now?” 

Jaemin only huffs, at a loss of what to say, so he just doesn’t. 

“Come on, it’s not as scary as it seems,” Jeno assures, grabbing Jaemin’s waist in his arm and pressing their sides flush against each other. “I’ll count to three, and we’ll jump at the same time,” he instructs. “The board will flip when we jump,” he adds, seeing Jaemin open his mouth in what he can only assume is a question. “Ready?”

Figuring he has nothing to lose, Jaemin nods his head.

“One, two… Three!”

Jaemin and Jeno jump up at the same time, and Jaemin instinctively wraps his arm around Jeno’s waist too for balance as their feet land on the board again. For a second, Jaemin thinks they got on the first try, but then the board slides to the left, and Jaemin loses his balance. He steps off of the board, dragging Jeno along with him. Luckily, since they’re holding onto each other, they don’t fall. 

“Not bad,” Jeno smiles, bringing the board back to them with one foot. He flips it over, and nudges Jaemin into position once more. 

Jeno counts to three again, and once again, they land back on their feet onto the board. Again, Jaemin thinks it’s okay for all of two seconds before he loses balance again, but Jeno holds onto him tight so that he doesn’t step onto the ground too harshly. 

Nonetheless, Jeno is nothing but encouraging and patient, and they attempt the trick three more times before they manage to stay on the board for five seconds without falling. 

“Oh, I’m a fantastic teacher, aren’t I?” Jeno asks cockily as the both of them step off of the board. 

“Shut up, you counted three numbers,” Jaemin says, rolling his eyes as he removes his arm from around Jeno’s waist. He notices that Jeno keeps holding onto his. 

“Is it so hard for you to say thank you?” Jeno sulks, and Jaemin is nothing but fond as he sees the little pout on Jeno’s face. He just doesn’t understand how someone is so _cute_ and dangerously _hot_ at the same time. 

“I don’t need to say it,” Jaemin dismisses, his hands boldly sneaking up Jeno’s shoulders. “I can show you my gratitude.”

And then, Jaemin brings their faces together and kisses Jeno square on the mouth. It seems to catch Jeno off guard at first, because it takes a few seconds for Jeno to readjust his hold on his waist, bringing him closer and kissing his back. 

“Hm, I guess I’ll accept this over words,” Jeno mumbles against his lips, kissing down his chin, and onto his neck. “Good timing though babe, I believe I owe you a favour,” he whispers, coming off of Jaemin’s skin just to guide him behind one of the large, concrete skate structures. 

Jeno pushes Jaemin against the concrete, kissing him again. In the brief few seconds Jaemin has his eyes open before Jeno takes over his mind, Jaemin sees that in front of them, there are simply trees and bushes, effectively blocking them from the sight of anyone passing by. 

His mind is put at ease when he knows no one can see them, so he tightens his hold around Jeno’s shoulders and kisses him with vigour.

Jeno _did_ owe him, _and_ he made a promise. Jaemin intends to hold him to those two things. 

Jeno seems to be keen on keeping his words too, his hands already at Jaemin’s waistband. 

“A skirt would’ve been easier,” Jaemin grumbles when Jeno shimmies the waistband of his sweatpants down his thighs, teasingly keeping his underwear on, and Jaemin is sure it’s just to piss him off. 

“If you’re so insistent, next time you can keep a skirt on. No promises of how it’ll turn out though,” Jeno smirks. He wedges a leg between Jaemin’s thighs, and leans in to whisper against his ear. “What do you want, baby? Tell me and I’ll give it to you.”

For some reason, Jeno’s sugar sweet voice makes the arousal coursing through Jaemin pool heavier in the pit of Jaemin’s stomach, and he finds his hips subconsciously grinding against Jeno’s thigh. 

Jeno seems to take this as an answer though, nipping at his jaw and flexing his thigh. It makes Jaemin let out a moan which he muffles into Jeno’s shoulder. 

“You can get off like this?” Jeno asks, tone half in awe and the other half curious. 

“P-Probably, but—” Jaemin says shakily, one of his hands grabbing one of Jeno's hands and guiding them to his mouth. “I want these.”

“These?” Jeno repeats teasingly, raising up an eyebrow and prodding two fingers to Jaemin's lips. “Ask for them properly.”

Jaemin whines, feeling his face flush, head tipping back to make eye contact with Jeno through his hooded ones. The concrete is cool on his back, but Jeno’s stare, the friction between his legs, and Jeno’s words make him all hot and bothered. 

When Jaemin still hasn’t said anything, Jeno pushes his leg harsher between Jaemin’s own, making Jaemin gasp and close his eyes in pleasure. 

“C’mon Nana, use your words,” he grunts, looking at him expectantly. 

And for some reason, Jaemin knows he doesn’t want to disappoint Jeno right now. 

“Can you please fuck me with your fingers?” he asks quietly, but he manages to look at Jeno with his eyes wide and pleading. 

“Of course I can, princess,” Jeno smiles, pecking Jaemin’s lips once and tapping them with his fingers twice. “Open up.”

Jaemin listens obediently, taking Jeno’s two fingers into his mouth with ease. He swirls his tongue around them and makes sure to coat them in as much saliva as he can. 

“Oh, desperate, aren’t you?” Jeno whispers, lips back on the skin of Jaemin's jaw. He doesn’t stop there though, pushing his leg up against Jaemin’s hard length and making him release strangled sounds from his throat which are muffled because of his fingers. “You sound so pretty baby, too bad you have to keep quiet.”

It’s then that Jaemin remembers they’re literally in public. He wants to chastise both of them and call them crazy for this, but he’s too hard in his underwear to think about anything other than wanting Jeno to make him come. 

Jaemin lets go of Jeno’s fingers with a ‘pop’ sound, breathing just a little heavy as his glazed eyes search for Jeno’s.

He must look a mess already, cheeks flushed, lips red and swollen, and his hair messy from having thrashed his head against the concrete. 

“Beautiful,” Jeno comments, kissing Jaemin again as he brings his hand around to Jaemin’s ass. He finally pulls his underwear down, and the cool air makes Jaemin flinch. “I’ll take care of you now, alright?”

He asks as his finger runs over Jaemin’s pucker, and it makes Jaemin’s breath hitch. He nods his head vigorously, pushing back into Jeno’s hand just a little. 

Slowly, and while kissing Jaemin, Jeno pushes one finger into Jaemin’s hole first, all the way until his entire finger is sucked into Jaemin’s heat. 

Jaemin whines into his mouth, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to get used to the feeling of Jeno’s long finger reaching places he’s never been able to on his own. 

“Another one please,” Jaemin says breathlessly, digging his nails into Jeno’s arms when Jeno does exactly as he asks. 

The stretch burns in all the ways Jaemin likes, and the way Jeno scissors his fingers makes the slight pain and discomfort dissolve into pleasure really quickly. 

Jeno starts to thrust his fingers with more force when Jaemin’s moans get louder, and he slips in a third finger before Jaemin gets the chance to ask. 

“A-Ah, there please, right there Jen,” Jaemin whimpers, biting down on his bottom lip to keep his noises to a minimum. Even if he’d give anything just to scream with how good Jeno’s fingers move inside of him. 

“So polite, you’re so sweet baby,” Jeno hums, concentrating on keeping his fingers positioned to hit right where Jaemin wants it. “Feel good?”

“Yes, feels really good Jen,” Jaemin nods, his eyes hazy as he tries to keep himself upright against the wall. It’s a struggle, especially when Jeno moves his thigh again, and Jaemin knows his orgasm is right around the corner. “‘M close, really, really close,” Jaemin warns, panting when Jeno increases the pace of his fingers even more. 

“Then come on Nana, come for me. I bet you look so pretty when you do,” he praises, his unoccupied hand brushing the pink bangs out of Jaemin’s eyes. He kisses his cheek when he feels Jaemin clench tightly around his fingers. 

“Kiss me please,” Jaemin cries, smashing their lips together when Jeno brings his face close, moaning loudly into his mouth and holding onto Jeno’s biceps so tight Jeno wouldn’t be surprised if there were bruises being left. 

Jaemin shudders through his orgasm, and his legs shake when Jeno draws it out and works him through all the aftershocks. The pleasure in his body renders his bones into jelly, and he slumps over Jeno when the latter gently pulls his fingers out. 

“Good boy,” he whispers, pressing a small kiss to Jaemin’s temple, and running a hand down his spine to soothe him. “You did so well, taking my fingers.”

“Thank you,” Jaemin mumbles, and Jeno feels a weak kiss on his neck. “Now will you carry me home?”

Jeno snorts, but after he pulls Jaemin’s pants up and cleans him up to the best of his abilities, he lets Jaemin hold onto him as he skates them back to Jaemin’s place. 

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


It’s very simple for Jeno, until Donghyuck gets involved. 

Well, it’s always very simple before Donghyuck uses his big brain, connects the pieces of a puzzle together, and then makes Jeno talk about them with him. 

That’s the part he hates most; talking about his feelings with Donghyuck. He never knew how to take the conversation seriously, and while he was fine when Donghyuck wanted to wax poetry about how nice Renjun’s hair is, he couldn’t say it was easy for him to do the same. 

“What is this?” Donghyuck asks, walking right up to Jeno after the two had been peacefully doing homework. Why Donghyuck has to ruin quality time with something like this, he doesn’t know. 

After he’s done internally brooding about how much he’d have preferred it if Donghyuck kept his mouth shut, he finally looks at what Donghyuck is showing him on his phone. 

It’s the TikTok he finally posted, when he kissed Jaemin for the first time, the audio perfectly synced since he was counting the seconds in his head. He’s glad it paid off, and he’s glad the camera cut recording before it could catch… the escalation, if you will. That would’ve been rather embarrassing. 

He posted it this morning, but it seems like Donghyuck hasn’t had the chance to look at it until now, if the way he’s scowling is anything to go by. 

“What do you have to complain about now?” Jeno sighs, ripping his eyes away from how Jaemin’s eyes flutter shut so prettily. If he keeps thinking about what happened in the car that day, there was going to be a real awkward problem. He and Donghyuck were close, but he didn’t need to add any more awkward boner stories to their collection. 

“You,” he answers simply, jumping onto the bed in front of Jeno and crowding into his space. “What’s wrong with you? Do I need to take you to see someone?”

“What?” Jeno sputters at Donghyuck’s abruptness, and the question laced with genuinity. Last time he checked, he’s perfectly fine? “I think I’m okay.”

“Okay, that’s what you think,” Donghyuck deadpans, moving back just a little. “And we both know we can’t trust what you think. So tell me, what’s wrong with you?”

“I’m going to have to tell you that I don’t understand what you mean,” Jeno sighs, shoving Donghyuck away completely and bringing the textbook he was reading from back up to his chest, prepared to use it as a shield if Donghyuck got any closer. “And if you have anything else to cryptically interrogate me about, can you hurry up? Jaemin is supposed to come over in half an hour."

“This!” Donghyuck suddenly exclaims, springing up to his knees on Jeno’s bed and pointing a finger right at him. Jeno feels more accused by that finger than he ever has by anything else in his entire life. “This is what I mean, you idiot! How long are you going to pretend like you’re okay with whatever limbo you have going on with Jaemin right now?”

Now that Donghyuck mentions a limbo, he thinks about it. 

There is a limbo, isn’t there? Between being friends and more, because friends surely don’t make out casually, or suck each other off, or finger each other in skate parks. But if you’re not friends, you’re _dating_ , and as much as Jeno had taken Jaemin on a date and would like nothing more, they’re not dating. 

Because at the end of it, he guesses, Jeno is a coward who’s afraid of the repercussions of letting his feelings be known. 

Jaemin is such a wild card, he never knows what to expect from him. It intrigues him while also rendering him wary, but it’s an addictive magnetic force, something Jeno couldn’t pull away from even if he tried. 

Not that he has tried yet, he also has no interest in that. 

“I’m very content with being Jaemin’s friend who he occasionally kisses and gives a handjob to,” Jeno finally says after wallowing in his thoughts, something which, unfortunately, doesn’t seem to slip past Donghyuck.

Sometimes Jeno didn’t appreciate his stark intelligence, especially when it worked against him. 

“Then you are a very pathetic excuse of a human.”

Ah there it is, another thing he didn’t appreciate about Donghyuck. How brutally honest he was. He already knew this even if Donghyuck didn’t tell him, but hearing it to his face also really is a wake up call. 

“I’ve gathered,” he says dryly instead, hoping he sounds as passive as he wants to feel. “Now if that’s all-”

“You know he likes you too, right?” 

Effectively, this shuts Jeno up. Of course it does, was he supposed to be uninterested in what Donghyuck had just said? 

“You don’t know that,” Jeno says, rationalizing his thoughts. 

Of course Donghyuck would try to make him feel better by saying things like this, but every best friend usually does. 

“How do you know that?” he adds skeptically, because after all, Donghyuck has been seeing Renjun for the better part of two months. And Renjun was Jaemin’s best friend. 

“Because I have eyes,” Donghyuck answers, one hundred percent unimpressed, while Jeno is one hundred percent done with this conversation. There were only so many of Donghyuck’s useless answers he could take. “And a brain. Are you dense?”

“Listen, I feel like we’ve strayed from you wanting to help me to you just wanting to insult me,” Jeno points out impatiently, glaring at Donghyuck when he has the audacity to look sheepish, clearly caught red handed. “So, if that’s all—”

“Just don’t waste time,” Donghyucl interrupts, and even though Jeno is so terribly keen on ending this conversation, Donghyuck’s serious tone catches his attention. “Seriously, you’ll kick yourself in the balls if you find out you could’ve been dating all this time instead of uselessly pining,” he adds, taking in Jeno’s curious expression. 

“Shut up, Hyuck,” he grumbles, and where he expects Donghyuck to glare at him or make another snide remark, he only rolls his eyes fondly and smiles at him. 

“You love me, dumbass.” 

  
  
  


Donghyuck opens the door to leave at the same time Jaemin is getting ready to knock, surprising the both of them when the door isn’t between them anymore. 

“Hello Jaemin,” Donghyuck greets nicely, smiling cutely and making way for Jaemin to come inside. 

“Hey Hyuck,” he other greets back, tossing his bag onto the floor right after. “Did Jen kick you out for me?”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Donghyuck shrugs, and Jeno makes a mental note to hit him the next time they’re alone. “But I should’ve been going anyways. By the way, you still have my necklace. No rush, just a reminder!”

Donghyuck is gone right after he says those words, and it makes Jaemin embarrassedly pull out his phone and set a reminder to return the necklace as soon as possible. 

“Why do you still have that?” Jeno asks when Jaemin walks back into the room, promptly scooping him up into his arms and tackling him onto the bed. “I thought I told you to take my things instead.”

“I did take your things, you goof,” Jaemin sighs fondly, rolling his eyes and gently flicking Jeno's forehead. Jeno is hovering on top of him from the way they had landed, and Jaemin thinks he looks especially good like this. “Just forgot to give that one back.”

“I don’t like it when you wear things that belong to other boys,” Jeno admits, leaning down and nosing into Jaemin’s neck. He smells sweet there, like pears and blackberries, so Jeno thinks he put on perfume. 

“I know,” Jaemin hums, one hand coming up to stroke the hair on the back of Jeno's head. “But it’s fun riling you up.”

“You're mean,” Jeno scowls, pulling his face away. 

Jaemin only smiles at him sweetly. 

“Yes. I’m very mean. I’m the meanest person in the whole wide world,” he agrees, pulling Jeno down just a little, using the leverage from the hand on his neck. “But I have a surprise for you.

Jeno raises an eyebrow, intrigued, and even more so when Jaemin leans up a little to kiss him. 

“Mm, I like this surprise very much,” Jeno mumbles happily, one of his own hands trailing up the bare skin of Jaemin’s thigh, courtesy of the cute little shorts he’s wearing. 

“Not that kind of surprise,” Jaemin mutters, abruptly flipping their positions until he was on the one on top, sitting on Jeno’s thighs and looking down at him. “I brought a box of brownie mix with me. Can we bake?”

Jeno stares, dumbfounded for a moment. Jaemin had kissed him the way that he knows Jeno likes… Just to bake?

“Please?” Jaemin whines after Jeno’s prolonged silence, pouting as he waits for an answer. “I’ll get you off later or something, but I’m really craving brownies,” he says, and Jeno thinks he shouldn’t look this cute while saying the things he has. 

“I wasn’t thinking about getting off,” Jeno finally says, sitting up and wrapping his arms around Jaemin’s waist. “I was thinking of how cute you are.” 

Jaemin's cheeks redden, so Jeno kisses them before sliding off of the bed. 

“Can we make pot brownies?”

“Really?” Jaemin deadpans, looking unimpressed when Jeno turns back to him. 

“What? I’ve made them once with Donghyuck before!” he defends, holding his hands up. “I also have some laying around.”

“Jeno!” Jaemin gasps, eyes wide as he looks at Jeno casually looking around his room for the stash he has somewhere. He thinks Donghyuck was the one who put it away last time. Leave it to him to put it everywhere except where Jeno usually keeps it. “Do you just keep that stuff around? What if you’re caught?”

“Well I haven’t been yet,” Jeno shrugs, waving around the baggy when he finally finds it. “You’re not gonna rat me out, are you, doll?”

“Shut up,” Jaemin grumbles, getting off of the bed and grabbing his bag again. “If these turn out terrible because of you, I’ll never speak to you again,” he declares. 

“When have I ever ruined anything?” Jeno scoffs, following Jaemin out of his dorm so they can head to the kitchens. 

Jaemin doesn’t answer him, but he doesn’t have to, since he knows the answer anyways. If he could help it, Jeno always tries to keep things simple for Jaemin. 

Which is once again proven, when Jeno meticulously follows a recipe which doesn't ruin the brownies.

He does however, make a mess. 

“Jen, why don’t I do this part?” Jaemin suggests gently, but Jeno only shakes his head, and Jaemin feels like he’s talking to a little kid. It wouldn’t be that far off, actually. 

“You’ve been doing everything else, let me do this,” Jeno says, and it doesn’t sound like he’s going to change his mind any time soon. 

Jaemin sighs and relents, and feels exasperated when Jeno turns on the hand beater, just for the dry ingredients in their mix to end up all over the counters. 

Jaemin pinches the bridge of his nose as he takes in Jeno’s guilty expression. 

“I’ll clean it up!” Jeno says quickly, handing the machine over to Jaemin like he had asked for in the first place, and gets wet wipes and paper towels instead. “You’ll probably make them yummier than I can.”

“Flirting doesn’t save you from everything,” Jaemin grumbles, but despite his words, his stomach does somersaults. 

Despite the havoc Jeno wracks in the kitchen, the brownies turn out very good indeed. 

And if the rest of the night is spent with fuzzy feelings running through their veins, hushed giggles and breathless kisses, it’ll only be for them. 

Jeno likes it that way anyways, because he isn’t too keen on letting people know just how easily Jaemin renders him breathless when his tongue swipes across the back of his teeth, or the way Jaemin goes pliant when Jeno sticks a hand under his shirt. 

Yeah, he’d rather keep these moments tucked between themselves. 

Jaemin kisses like he’s starved, even if his mouth is a little lax and messy. Saliva pools easily between them, and it’s messy when Jaemin tries to mold their lips in a way where it doesn’t happen. 

But nothing works, because they’re both a little sloppy and acting like they didn't know how to kiss any better. But it’s good, and they’re content, and Jeno can't complain when that’s all he needs. 

“Jeno,” Jaemin pants against his lips, wrapping his arms around the other’s neck and looking at him from under his hooded eyes. Jeno has turned on his LED lights, and the room is bathed in red. 

Jaemin looks really beautiful in red, Jeno decides. 

“Yeah?” he mumbles, waiting patiently for Jaemin to continue. It takes a while though, because Jaemin keeps kissing him, and Jeno is too weak to pull away. 

“Dance with me,” Jaemin eventually says, sliding off of Jeno’s lap right after and having the other blindly chase for his lips before he realizes he’s gone. It makes Jaemin giggle. “Come on! Up, up, up!” he cheers, grabbing both of Jeno’s hands and pulling him up from the bed. 

“There’s no music,” Jeno says, masking how the real issue is that he doesn’t know how to dance. Why Jaemin has to do this to him, he doesn’t know. 

“That’s okay, I’ll make it,” Jaemin assures, and then his arms loop around Jeno's neck, and he pulls their bodies flush against each other. Jeno doesn’t know how to dance, but he’s sure it isn’t like this. 

It doesn’t look like Jaemin is going to let go any time soon though, so Jeno does all he can and puts his hands on Jaemin’s waist, and lets the latter take the lead. 

Jaemin starts humming softly, something very low and something Jeno wouldn’t have even noticed if they weren’t pressed so close together and he wasn’t able to feel the way Jaemin’s chest vibrates with his hums. 

Jeno doesn’t know if it is a familiar tune or something Jaemin has just made up on the spot, but they both start swaying to it either way. 

This isn’t what Jeno has seen in movies whenever two people dance, and it isn’t what he’s seen at his senior prom either. But it’s nice, because Jaemin is warm and fits perfectly against him, so Jeno thinks he likes this version of dancing over what he’s seen in movies and at prom anyways. 

Maybe it was Jaemin’s special power to make Jeno like everything he does, it wouldn’t be so farfetched anymore. 

“Okay, I’m tired,” Jaemin says after a while, and he doesn’t know how much time has passed. Maybe minutes, maybe hours. All he knows is that it was nice, and that he will definitely ask Jaemin to dance again. 

“Okay,” he whispers, not sure of what else to say. So instead of saying anything more, he simply leads them both to the bed again. 

The sheets, pillows, and blanket are welcoming and comfy, and Jeno sinks into the feeling as Jaemin does the same next to him. 

“You have chocolate on your face,” Jaemin mumbles, laid down next to Jeno with the light a dim red, something which makes it a bit hard to see. But he guesses it’s okay, since he can still see Jeno’s face despite it all. 

“Where?” Jeno asks, making a cute little sound to show his confusion as his thumb aimlessly swipes around his mouth. 

“Over here,” he sighs fondly, bringing his own face closer to Jeno’s and poking his tongue out to lick at the chocolate away. 

It tastes sweet on his tongue, but also like Jeno’s skin. 

“You’re hot,” Jeno says dumbly when Jaemin pulls back, having the younger giggle at his words and rest his head in the crook of his neck. “Seriously— where did you learn these things?”

“I’m just a natural,” Jaemin smiles, pressing a kiss to Jeno’s pulse point just because he can reach it. And because he can. “And from you.”

“From me?” Jeno repeats confusedly, laying down on his back when his shoulder starts to ache a little from staying pressed onto one side. Jaemin doesn’t move, but he does throw a leg over his hip, so Jeno doesn’t complain at all. 

“Mhm, all the thirst traps you post,” Jaemin admits lazily, and the bluntness of his statement makes Jeno turn pink. Thankfully, you can’t see it under the red of his lights. “Who do you think you are, seducing the internet?”

It’s very clear now, that the amount of brownies Jaemin had eaten has made him loose lipped, as Jeno thinks he’d never admit things like this if he wasn’t feeling like he was floating on a cloud. 

Jeno isn’t that too off of the ground, growing a little tolerant before he feels whatever Jaemin is feeling. It makes him very aware of Jaemin’s every touch and word, and he doesn’t know if that’s a blessing or a curse. 

All of this will probably be a little foggy for Jaemin the next day anyways. 

“I don’t seduce the internet,” Jeno finally says after finding his voice, willing his heart to slow down when Jaemin throws an arm around his waist too. “The internet has low standards.”

“Don’t say that,” Jaemin whines, nuzzling his nose a bit into Jeno’s skin. Jeno is reminded of when he had done that a mere few hours ago, and he suddenly wants to catch a whiff of the blackberries and pears again. “You’re saying I have low standards.”

Jeno feels his heart absolutely drop from his chest, and he thinks it's something like six feet under the ground right now. 

He doesn’t know what to say to that, and it makes Jaemin take his silence as an invite to continue. 

“And you shouldn’t think that, because as of right now, you’re the standard,” he rambles, and Jeno suddenly forgets how to breathe. “And everyone likes you. So no more thirst traps, okay? I’ll be really sad if you seduce someone into falling for you again.”

“Again?” Jeno chokes out, voice strained while in the midst of processing everything Jaemin had just said. He’s having a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that Jaemin is really next to him, lips on his skin and telling him about all these things. 

He doesn’t want to believe him, but Jaemin doesn’t lie. And he doesn’t lie when he’s like this, much less. Jeno has seen him in this state too many times to think he’s lying. But then again, he doesn’t know if him thinking like that is his own mind putting things into the perspective he wants, and not how things really are. 

Jeno guesses the mind was a scary place. For Jaemin, who’s mind can cause him to blab all of his thoughts out loud, or for Jeno, who’s mind can warp all the words he hears into his ideal ones. 

It doesn’t help that his slightly muddled mind might be taking this all the wrong way. 

The more he thinks about it, the more his head starts to hurt. He should stop looking so deep into things, and maybe just get his shit together like Donghyuck had been asking him to for the past few weeks.

But that’s a possibility for future Jeno to contemplate, so for now, he stays entertaining Jaemin’s thoughts. 

“Yeah? That’s what you did to me anyways. Seduce me… bad boy,” Jaemin sighs, molding his body closer to Jeno’s. “But you’re also really sweet and cute and smart and pretty and gentle and… you really can't seduce anyone anymore Jen, it’s like… impossible not to like you.”

Jeno hums, Jaemin’s words a complete mess in his head. 

But he pushes them away, because debating the meaning behind them is a scary thought right now, and instead leans his head onto the top of Jaemin and breathes in the smell of his shampoo. He can’t exactly pinpoint what the scent is, but it’s really just… Jaemin. 

Whatever that smells like. Sometimes it smells like vanilla, sometimes it smells like lemons, and right now it smells like… Brownies. And pot, but that was more of Jeno’s scent. After all, he’s the one who had to dry it out in the oven. 

“It’s impossible not to like you either,” Jeno settles on saying, the arm around Jaemin’s shoulder rubbing circles on his skin. “I like you so much, I’ve liked you for so long… I’ll also be sad if you seduce someone," he says mindlessly, rambling too at this point. Jeno thinks his reason for being loose lipped is because of how many of Jaemin’s kisses had worked his mouth open. 

“Don’t worry Jeno,” Jaemin sighs happily, finally closing his eyes. “I don’t even know how to seduce someone.”

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


The first thing Jaemin realizes when his brain decides to wake up, is that he’s very, very warm. 

The second thing he realizes is that Jeno’s hand is underneath his shirt.

And the third thing he realizes is that Jeno’s lips are on his neck. 

“Jeno,” Jaemin calls groggily, shifting around a little and knocking his elbow into what Jaemin thinks is Jeno’s stomach. “What are you doing?” 

He doesn’t get his answer in the form of words, instead he gets Jeno’s hand under his shirt trailing higher until it brushes over his chest, and Jaemin’s breath catches. 

“I feel bad,” Jeno then says, voice and words mumbled into the crook of his neck. It was hard to understand what he was saying, but not terribly so considering that their proximity helped. 

“What… Do you need to drink water?” Jaemin asks, though he was feeling fine himself. And Jeno couldn’t have been worse than him, he remembered eating two thirds of the brownies they made, all by himself. 

Jeno snorts, and Jaemin is ripped out of his thoughts. 

“No, not water,” Jeno says, finally moving his face away from Jaemin’s neck, pressing a peck to his lips with a soft smile on his face. “Good morning.”

And even if Jaemin was terribly confused, wrapped up in Jeno’s arms, getting Jeno’s kisses first thing in the morning, and seeing Jeno smile so beautifully, makes Jaemin fond without even trying. 

He’s completely wrapped around Jeno’s finger, it seems. And it may or may not ruin him. 

“Good morning,” he finally says, leaning in for just one more kiss. They felt good, when he was sated and sleepy. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

He doesn’t remember much from the night before, his brain fogging up memories from everything after they collapsed into bed after dancing like two right fools. Jaemin assumes they went to sleep after that, but it could’ve been hours until they passed out, he doesn’t know. 

“I’m feeling quite fine, darling. How about you?” 

“I’m okay too. So then why do you feel bad?” Jaemin asks, one of his hands coming up to tame at Jeno’s messy bed hair. 

The roots are grown out, and Jaemin wonders if Jeno will bleach his hair again. He thinks Jeno looks really good blond, but he also admits Jeno looked really good when his hair was black and brown too. 

He comes to the conclusion that he doesn’t really care what Jeno does to his hair. He’s sure he’ll find it stunning either way. 

“I believe I didn’t keep a promise,” he starts, looking into Jaemin’s eyes for all of a few moments before both his hands are under his shirt. 

“Promise?” Jaemin questions, ever so slightly leaning into Jeno’s hold on him. His hands were big, and it made Jaemin’s gut swirl. Especially when they were placed on his bare skin. 

“Mhm. Didn't I say I’d have you screaming? How unfair that I made you come somewhere you couldn’t be too loud,” he continues, rolling them over slowly, until Jaemin’s back is pressed against the mattress, head cushioned in the pillows, and Jeno hovering above him. 

When Jaemin takes in Jeno’s words, his heart skips a beat as he’s reminded of what happened on the day Jeno was referring to. 

And suddenly, the hands underneath his shirt make a lot more sense. 

“But it’s morning,” Jaemin reasons, though his hands tell a different story as they trace up Jeno’s arms, as do his legs when they open a bit just to accommodate Jeno’s body. 

Jeno nods, head coming down and catching Jaemin’s lips in his once more. 

“But I’m hungry,” he mutters, moving into his neck, sucking so hard Jaemin is sure he’ll leave a mark. 

“I’ll m-make you breakfast,” he stutters, and his eyes fall shut when Jeno’s tongue pokes out to soothe over where he sucked particularly harshly. 

“You _are_ breakfast,” Jeno grins, and Jaemin’s heart lurches. At the sight, at the words, and the dangerous fingers which near his waistband. “Let me have a taste?” 

“Impatient,” Jaemin groans, but despite his words, he’s unable to keep a smile from coming onto his lips.

“Insufferable,”

“Desperate,”

“Beautiful,”

“ _Horny_ ,”

“Terribly so,” Jeno says smugly, and when Jaemin rolls his eyes, his smile only broadens. “Yes?”

“Knock yourself out,” Jaemin sighs, feeling warmth bloom through his body when he sees Jeno excitedly hook his fingers onto the waistband of his pants and underwear, pulling them both down simultaneously. 

“Oh, I’ll be knocking _you_ out,” Jeno mutters, leaning down to start trailing kisses from Jaemin’s stomach, where his shirt had ridden up.

Jeno’s kisses are pillowy soft, like the press of a flower petal against his warm skin. 

He loves Jeno’s kisses. 

They go lower and lower, ticklish across his abdomen and delicate along his hip bones. Jaemin’s length starts to fill itself up right before their eyes, and it makes him flush, with both embarrassment and arousal, with how quickly Jeno can turn him on. 

“Y’know, I love when you wear skirts,” Jeno whispers, and his voice matches how soft the light filtering in from the window is. Maybe there’s even a hint of warmth too. “But I don’t love the way people look at _these_ when you do.”

Jeno accentuates his point by squeezing both of Jaemin’s thighs in his hands, and it makes the younger’s breath catch again. 

“They're so pretty,” he murmurs, lips kissing every inch of the skin of his thighs, some wet and others with his teeth sinking into the flesh. “And they look even prettier all marked up.”

Jaemin throws his head back when Jeno really starts to mark up his thighs, little breaths and whines escaping his throat when Jeno’s teeth graze the sensitive skin.

“I Won’t… W-Won’t be able to wear skirts now,” Jaemin sighs pleasurably, not really caring about wearing skirts or not when Jeno’s mouth feels so good on him. 

“Sure you can,” Jeno argues, looking up at Jaemin from between his legs, and _oh_ , Jaemin will never be able to forget the sight of that. “Just gotta be proud.”

And then he winks, spreads Jaemin’s legs ever further apart with hands on his knees, and kisses really close to his crotch.

Jaemin used to say that Jeno would drive him mad, but now he’s being pushed to the brink of insanity for all other reasons. 

Jaemin cock now sits heavy on his stomach, leaking a bit of precome and jumping every time Jeno makes eye contact with him. 

“Jaemin-ah, I’ll make you tea after this,” Jeno mumbles from between his thighs, and while Jaemin’s eyebrows scrunch with pleasure, they also scrunch with confusion. 

“Why? I don’t like tea,” he says breathlessly, fisting the bedsheets between his hands while having his heart beat erratically against his chest. He wonders if Jeno can hear it. 

“Trust me baby, you’ll need it,”

Jaemin doesn’t get further explanation after that, because then Jeno leaves a final kiss where his thigh meets his crotch, and then he feels a tongue lick a stripe right over his rim.

A sharp moan rips itself from his throat, and Jaemin suddenly knows exactly why he’ll be needing that tea. 

“What're you doing?” Jaemin asks for the second time this morning, his question cut off with a gasp when Jeno licks over him again. He knows very well what Jeno is doing, but he expected maybe a blowjob at best, this early in the morning. 

Jeno doesn’t answer him in words though, only kisses around his pucker before keeping his lips in the same position and sucking, hard. 

“Ah— ah, Jeno,” Jaemin moans, throwing his head back against the pillows as his hands instinctively go down and grip onto the blond strands he’s grown to adore so much. “You’re so— so dirty!” he finishes with a squeal, pulling on Jeno’s hair accidentally. 

He’d feel bad if he didn’t feel Jeno groan deeply against his hole. Jaemin concludes that he likes the feeling. 

Jeno sucks on Jaemin’s rim until it’s puffy and red, a visual that has tattooed itself into his brain. It’s then that he pulls away a little to catch some air, and to catch the way Jaemin looks above him.

Red cheeks, messy pink hair, erratic breathing, and a blissed out look on his face. 

Jeno thinks he looks like a dream right now, which is all the more encouragement to dive back in and roll his tongue around, tracing the circle of Jaemin’s hole. 

He can’t help the grin that makes it onto his face when Jaemin whines pathetically above him, high pitched and due to be heard from the next door. Jeno’s ego only gets bigger when Jaemin’s hips twitch upwards, and he has to hold him down with his hands.

“Fuck, Jen,” Jaemin cries loudly, and it all goes to Jeno’s head. And maybe his cock, but that was a different story. “Please don’t stop, please—”

Jeno cuts Jaemin off with another scream, pushing his tongue as deep as it can go, licking over Jaemin’s walls and ignoring the way his jaw starts to ache. 

Jaemin sounds too much like everything he’s ever wanted above him, for Jeno to tend to his own needs. 

High off of knowing Jaemin is finding extreme pleasure in his antics, Jeno pulls off for all of two seconds before his finger is teasing Jaemin’s hole, pushing just the tip in before removing it all together. 

“Want it?” Jeno asks breathlessly, assuming he looks like a right mess, with saliva and spit all over his chin, hair pulled in all directions, and a crazy pool of lust in his eyes. 

“Yes, yes I want it!” Jaemin nods, finding Jeno’s eyes. “Please give it to me.” he begs, and Jeno thinks he can see the telltale signs of his eyes watering. 

A carnal desire blooms inside of Jeno, and he doesn’t waste any more time before kissing Jaemin’s rim once more before pushing his finger into Jaemin. 

The moan the younger lets out at the stretch is sinful, but the way he clenched tight around the intrusion is even more unbelievable. 

“Always using your manners, sweetheart,” Jeno grunts, picking up the pace of his finger when he sees Jaemin’s hips start to chase the friction. “So perfect for me, taking it all like a good boy.”

Jeno thinks he hears Jaemin cry at that, high pitched and everything Jeno wants to hear on a loop, before clamping his legs around Jeno’s shoulders and having a desperate sound wretch its way out of his throat. 

“Close,” he chokes out through his sounds, catching Jeno’s eyes once more before they roll into the back of his head, Jeno having brushed his prostate. “Jen, oh please.”

Jeno is a weak man, weaker when it comes to Jaemin, and the weakest when Jaemin begs like the sweetest boy in the world.

So Jeno puts his mouth back onto Jaemin, sucking his rim and adding a second finger, too deep into relishing in Jaemin’s moans and screams to feel bad for his neighbours on this floor. 

“Baby, you’re so lovely,” Jeno says, crooking his fingers the way that makes Jaemin see stars. “Are you gonna come for me?” 

Jaemin dick is red and wet where it lays on his abdomen, hard and about to burst. Jeno’s words do nothing but work him up even more, and the pleasure running through his veins is so hot he’s convinced it’s molten lava by his point. 

Jeno manages to drive him delirious, his tongue, his lips, his fingers all have Jaemin unable to keep his mouth shut, drooling and crying over how good Jeno makes him feel.

So the least he can do is let Jeno know, which is exactly what he tries to convey when his tongue feels useless in his mouth, pulling Jeno’s hair harder in a warning. 

The message seems to get across, because Jeno suddenly becomes ever more enthusiastic, lapping him up like a starved man and using his fingers like he’s mapped Jaemin’s body inside out. 

And Jaemin wouldn’t be surprised if he did, because it truly did feel like he was in heaven. 

Jaemin comes when Jeno’s fingers jab into his prostate for the third time in a row, untouched, and so hard that he pushes his head impossibly deeper into the pillow. 

His legs shake as Jeno works him through the orgasm, his tongue now soft and gentle as it licks to clean up the cum in his stomach. 

When the overstimulation of Jeno’s fingers become too much, Jaemin lets his legs fall lifelessly and calls Jeno’s name shakily, watching through hooded eyes as he comes back up. 

“Mm, messy,” Jaemin mumbles croakily, looking at Jeno’s face when it’s no longer between his legs. Jeno only smiles at the sound of Jaemin’s voice, as well as how Jaemin uses the corner of the blanket to wipe Jeno’s chin. 

“A loud mouth you have, baby,” Jeno sighs happily, flattening down a bit of Jaemin’s hair. “Feel good?” 

“So fucking good,” Jaemin smiles back, pulling Jeno down by the shoulders to kiss him. “You’re amazing.”

Jeno chuckles against his lips, and it makes Jaemin want to save it as a recording and set the sound as his ringtone.

Or maybe that was a bit too much.

“Sounds like you’ll need that tea,” he comments, pecking Jaemin’s lips one more time before getting up from the bed. “Any preferences?”

“Green,” Jaemin hums, stretching his limbs a bit with no interest in getting out of bed. Anyways, from here he has the perfect view of Jeno tottering around and boiling water in his kettle. 

He kind of likes the look of Jeno making tea for him in the morning. 

Maybe he could get used to it.

He’s about to ask about what Jeno remembers from last night, but someone knocking on Jeno’s door jarres all thoughts out of his head.

It seems to do the same for Jeno too, who hastily throws some discarded sweatpants to Jaemin and wordlessly tells him to put them off quickly.

Jaemin complies with rushed movements, and feels suddenly very awake as Jeno makes his way to open the door. 

For a moment, Jeno thinks it’s a neighbour coming to complain about the loud noise this early in the morning, but when he opens the door, he sees someone who isn’t a neighbour instead. 

“… Mark?”

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


Jaemin doesn’t necessarily know who Mark is.

Nor did he stay around long enough to find out. 

But he’s fine with that, really. Because even if he did have to make himself a wretched cup of tea when he got back to his dorm, he at least evaded an awkward situation. 

Because when Jaemin simply searches up Jeno’s name with Mark’s onto the handy Twitter search bar, he easily finds tweets (and pictures, unfortunately), about how Mark Lee is Jeno Lee’s ex-boyfriend. 

He could only imagine what it would’ve been like to meet Mark Lee, but he’s glad he left as quickly as he did, and hoped it wasn’t obvious he was wobbly on his way out. 

Or maybe he did. To show Mark that Jeno had moved on.

Not that that was any of business of course… 

Anyways,

Jaemin doesn’t hear from Jeno for the rest of that day, which is fine, he guesses. From whatever Twitter was saying, Jeno and Mark were still friends. And what’s it to Jaemin anyways, it’s not like it matters to him. 

He’ll be fine. 

Or so he thinks, as he obsessively keeps checking on Twitter accounts which dedicate their time to posting ‘Lee Jeno updates.’ No, he’s not proud of it, but he’s curious, it’s killing him, and Jeno doesn’t tell him about Mark whenever they talk. 

Their conversations have consisted of Jeno asking how his day was, if he wanted to hang out (an invitation he’d always decline because he doesn’t trust himself around Jeno right now), and other… Less than appropriate messages. 

Jaemin wonders if Jeno can tell his texting mannerisms have changed, but then again, he doesn’t expect Jeno to pay so much attention to him. That was a bit selfish, wasn’t it? He wasn’t the only friend in Jeno’s life.

But he was the one who Jeno consistently fools around with…

But that didn’t have to mean something, did it? Just because Jaemin relished in those moments because of his feelings doesn't mean Jeno does the same thing. Jeno probably doesn’t even harbour those kinds of feelings for Jaemin, he shouldn’t get too in over his head. That could never end well. 

It especially hits him in the face when all the ‘Lee Jeno updates’ accounts keep telling him that Jeno has been spotted hanging out with Mark. Jaemin notices that every time they’re spotted together hanging out, it’s always a few hours, or right after, Jaemin had told Jeno he wouldn’t be able to hang out. 

And if he sulks about it for the rest of the day after finding out, Renjun is the only one who knows. Because as it is, Renjun is the only one Jaemin can see without ripping his hair out. 

Even if Renjun asks questions which make Jaemin want to hit him in the face with a textbook, he doesn’t. Which is good, considering he knows he wouldn’t have that self restraint around Jeno. 

Today is a wonderful example of just how Renjun acts like he’d rather enjoy a broken nose, as if Jaemin’s previous threats meant nothing to him. But then again, it's Renjun, so they probably _did_ mean nothing to him. 

“You do know that you can’t ignore him forever, right?” he asks, as if he hadn’t asked the same thing yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that too. Jaemin wonders if Renjun has short term memory loss, or if he was simply choosing to be this irritating. 

Probably the latter. 

“I can try,” Jaemin spits back, and he doesn’t have to be looking at Renjun to know he’s rolling his eyes. So he sips his coffee instead of looking at Renjun. 

“And you can fail,” Renjun scoffs, earning a rightfully deserved glare from him, Jaemin believes. Renjun couldn’t expect to say these things and get off the hook. Even if Renjun was immune to his glares. 

“I’m doing a perfectly fine job as it is, thank you very much,” the younger huffs, sitting up straighter to make himself feel, and look, more put together than he actually felt. But nobody needed to know that except for him. “Did you know I haven’t seen him in a week?”

“Yes, I did know that,” Renjun deadpans. “Because you’re keeping a tally and let me know everyday.”

Jaemin slouches back a little, and once again, Renjun rolls his eyes. 

“Well I’m just proud of myself,” Jaemin huffs, stirring his straw around in his coffee. 

“For what? Making yourself sad?”

Jaemin only looks up because Renjun’s tone is softer, and he doesn’t sound like he’s trying to pry answers out of his heart, which doesn’t want to be pried into, mind you. When he sees Renjun’s face, he feels a little comforted at the look on his face, but he also feels like Renjun is pitying him. And he didn’t need that, he was doing fine. 

“I’m not sad,” Jaemin says, but it sounds weak even to his own ears. He’s getting sick of his body betraying him. “Why would I be sad?”

Jaemin knows he shouldn’t have asked when he sees Renjun look like he’s getting ready to list off many reasons. 

“Well, you don’t let yourself see Jeno,” he starts, and now Jaemin wishes it was feasible to cover his ears and muffle Renjun's voice. “You keep psyching yourself out about Mark instead of just _asking_ Jeno—”

“I can’t just _ask_ Jeno!” Jaemin cuts off, looking at Renjun like the fact that he even brought up the idea was atrocious. Which it _is._ “I’m gonna seem like— like some kind of jealous boy—”

“Boyfriend?” Renjun finishes right after he notices Jaemin cut himself off. He has both of his eyebrows raised, and all it does is make Jaemin sigh defeatedly and slouch back into his seat completely with his arms crossed over his chest. “Because you’re right, that’s what it would seem like. Because you guys are practically boyfriends, Jaemin, what’s one question going to ruin?”

When Jaemin doesn’t answer even after a minute, Renjun sighs and grabs his hand where it rests over the table. Renjun’s hand is smaller than his, but Jaemin still appreciates the gesture nonetheless. He even squeezes back, because it's been a very long time since he’s held someone’s hand (a week ago, with Jeno). 

“I’m surprised a conversation like this hasn't already happened between you two, even before Mark had been added,” Renjun says softly, and when Jaemin looks at him again, he’s smiling softly. But Jaemin thinks he can also see a hint of sympathy at the edges. “How many times do I have to tell you he likes you until you believe me?”

Jaemin is about to answer that as much as he appreciates it, it doesn’t matter what Renjun thinks, because he won't believe it until he hears Jeno himself say it to his face, but just then, the coffee shop door opens and Jaemin blanches at the sight of who walks in. 

“What?” Renjun asks, noticing the way Jaemin freezes. He follows Jaemin’s eyes and sees that he’s looking at the door, and when Renjun sees who’s at the door, his own eyes widen a little. 

“Renjun, we should leave—” but of course, it’s too late, because Donghyuck has already caught sight of Renjun, and is walking over with Jeno and Mark following in tow. 

“Hello, beautiful people,” Donghyuck greets in typical Donghyuck fashion, pulling up a chair from an unoccupied table near them. “What’re you two up to?”

Jaemin doesn’t bother listening to Renjun’s answer, not when he suddenly tenses as Jeno brings his own chair to sit down next to him. He also tries to ignore how Mark sits down on Jeno’s other side. 

“Hey, I haven’t seen you in a while,” Jeno’s soft voice says from Jaemin's right, and when he begrudgingly looks over, there’s the tiniest bit of frowns on his lips. “Are you alright? You sounded like you were swamped with assignments.”

Jaemin doesn’t have the heart to come clean about how those had been lies and excuses just so that he didn’t have to see Jeno, not when he sounds so genuinely concerned. 

So instead, he nods, and pretends to act like his breath doesn’t catch when Jeno throws his arm over his shoulders, his fingers pressing into his muscles comfortingly. He also pretends to act like he can’t feel Mark's eyes bore into him. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he assures, sending what he hopes isn’t a weak smile to Jeno. But judging from the look on Jeno’s face, he knows it isn’t a successful smile. 

“Well, I was hoping we could hang out today,” Jeno says, and Jaemin immediately panics, wracking his brain for excuses. In person, he doesn’t have the luxury of stalling before he texts his answer. “There’s this restaurant I found, and I want to take you there.”

It turns out that Jaemin doesn’t even have to think of an answer on his own, not when Renjun answers for him. 

“Jaemin told me he’s free the rest of the day. He should be fine to go, right Nana?” 

Jaemin feels everyone’s eyes on him as he’s put on the spot, and he can’t help but let his eyes linger on Mark for a second too long. He can’t tell anything off of his expression though, Mark looks rather passive as he looks at Jaemin.

“Yeah, um… I don’t have anything to do tonight,” Jaemin relents, discreetly kicking Renjun’s leg under the table right after. “I’m free.” 

“Awesome,” Jeno smiles, and then abruptly gets up from his seat. “Let’s go now.”

He extends his hand out to Jaemin, who looks at him blankly, blinking at his owlishly. 

“N-Now?” he stutters, taken aback, and still acutely aware of how Mark hasn’t taken his eyes off of him. 

“Why not? I have a lot to catch you up on,” Jeno shrugs, and Jaemin can’t help but let his mind drift to those things he needed to catch up on being related to Mark. Jaemin feels bitter just thinking about it.

“He’d love to go now,” Renjun butts in again, and Jaemin wonders if he has a deathwish. 

“Yeah, right. Okay,” Jaemin nods, finally accepting Jeno’s hand, willing his heart not to flutter when their fingers laced together, and standing up from his seat. 

Which feels like a wrong move, when Mark’s eyes drift from his face to his outfit. 

“That’s a nice skirt,” he comments, and Jaemin realizes that that’s the first thing that Mark has ever said to him. “White is a nice colour on you.” 

“T-Thank you,” Jaemin says, choking on his words because _he can’t help it_ , not when Mark is looking at him like _that._ And he doesn’t even know what _that_ is, he just knows that if he’s in the presence of Mark for another two minutes, he’s going to lose his mind. “Ready to go?” 

If Jeno notices Jaemin’s weird behaviour, he doesn’t comment on it. Instead, he nods his head and turns towards the table to bid everyone else goodbye. 

As they’re leaving, Jaemin sees Renjun throw him a wink, and he hopes Renjun sees how he flips him off.   
  


Eating with Jeno isn't as bad as he thinks it’s going to be, and catching up doesn’t entail stories about Mark.

They actually do catch up, and all this does for Jaemin is prove that he has missed him. 

Eating with Jeno isn't as bad as he thinks it’s going to be, until Jeno has dragged him to the bathroom and kisses him breathless against the counter. 

“I missed you,” Jeno breathes out against his lips, his hips pushing Jaemin’s hips farther against the counter. Jaemin would complain about the counter digging into the small of his back if Jeno’s lips didn’t feel so good against his. “Why were you ignoring me?”

“I wasn’t ignoring you,” Jaemin says back, running his hands up Jeno’s spine, just because he missed doing so. “You were busy with other things.” 

_Other people, more like._

“Only busy because you were busy too,” Jeno scoffs, and Jaemin is once again tempted to tell him it wasn’t true, that he wasn’t busy. But his pride doesn’t let him, not now, when Jeno’s hand is sneakily moving up his thigh and under his skirt. “I had to entertain myself somehow.”

Despite Jaemin not wanting it to, his heart drops a little when he hears what Jeno had said. 

Entertain himself… Did Jeno fool around with Mark too? Was Jaemin just entertainment to Jeno? 

And he didn’t want to think this way, but once the seed is planted into his head, it idt keeps growing and growing. 

Jeno knows Mark so well too, probably, they were exes after all. And who’s to say they still don’t have feelings for teach others, they’re still friends after all! And Jaemin doesn’t even know the premise of their breakup, maybe they knew they were going to get back together at some point.

Jaemin feels like he doesn’t know Jeno at all right now, because it him this is something big. Jaemin may just be another boy he gets off with, but Jeno is the first boy Jaemin has even let this close to… Well, _everything_ about him. 

And now that he doesn’t understand what’s happening, he feels terribly lost. 

His thoughts quickly get swarmed with scenarios of Jeno and Mark fooling around, of Jeno fooling around with his _ex_ , Jeno doing the things he does with Jaemin… Kissing Mark, spreading Mark’s legs apart, kissing his neck and biting his shoulder— 

“Baby, what’s wrong?” 

Jaemin realizes Jeno has stopped kissing him and has stepped back just a step, but that little gap of space between them is all he needs to push Jeno’s hands off of his thighs, and push him away even further. 

“Is that all I am to you?” Jaemin grits out, feeling irritation quickly bubble up in his chest, momentarily masking the hurt. And it does hurt, to think that everything shared between them only happened because Jeno was _bored._ “ _Entertainment_?” 

Jeno looks taken aback by Jaemin’s question, and although he doesn’t make a move to touch him again, he does step forward again.

“No, of course not,” he says firmly, looking right into Jaemin’s eyes. “Sweetheart, why would you think that—”

“I’m not your sweetheart,” Jaemin spits, and he hopes his lips don’t wobble as much as he thinks they do. He _wants_ to be Jeno’s sweetheart, but it doesn’t seem like things are going the way he wants. “Why don’t you go find another one, since it’s so easy to entertain yourself without me.”

“Are you talking about Mark?” Jeno asks, eyes wide and looking at Jaemin in disbelief. “He’s just a friend.”

“He’s your _ex_ ,” Jaemin emphasizes, and his heart sinks even lower when he sees Jeno startle. 

“How do you know that?”

“So you weren’t going to tell me?” 

At this, Jeno’s eyebrows draw together in confusion.

“Why would I tell you?” he asks. “It’s not like it matters, and you’re not my boyfriend.” 

And he _knew_ it, he knew he’d end up doing this, the thing Renjun told him he’d sound like, the thing he didn’t want to sound like. 

_A jealous boyfriend._

And although he knew there was a chance he’d be painted as that if he spoke up about this, he wasn’t prepared for Jeno’s answer. 

But he doesn’t know why he’s upset about it— Jeno is right. 

They’re not boyfriends. 

“Take me home,” Jaemin says simply, walking around Jeno and making his way to the door, but Jeno catches his elbow before he can.

“Jaemin, can we just—”

“Lee Jeno, take me home right now,” he cuts off, and although he wants to sound stern, his voice cracks at the end and he can feel his nose sting. 

As much as he appreciates, somewhere, deep down, that Jeno wants to talk, he can’t deal with that right now. 

Right now, his head is a mess and his heart isn’t faring off any better. Right now, he’d rather not see Jeno for longer than a ride home. 

And maybe Jeno is thinking the same thing, as his hand falls from Jaemin’s arm. He sighs, and Jaemin can’t read anything on his face, not like he used to be able to do. 

“Okay.”


	2. two

When Jeno gets back to his dorm after dropping Jaemin off, Donghyuck and Mark are sitting on his bed and talking about something. 

Jeno kind of regrets telling them they could all hang out tonight, because now he’s not in a good mood anymore, and he’d rather be alone to wallow in the blankets of his bed, maybe light up a blunt, and stare at the wall.

That would’ve been better than whatever Donghyuck has planned, and Jeno knows he has something planned when he sees the look on his face as he walks in. 

Jeno knows he’s in for quite a long night as he toes off his shoes, and decides to accept his fate, and throws himself onto his bed head first. He lands somewhere between where Mark and Donghyuck are sitting, and he hears Donghyuck sigh before grabbing Jeno’s head and pulling it onto his lap. 

“What happened?” Donghyuck asks, doing the thing that Jeno really likes when he presses the pads of his fingers into his scalp. “What did your dumbass do now?” 

“Believe it or not,” Jeno mumbles, letting his eyes slip shut because Donghyuck just  _ knows _ how to give head massages. He wonders where he learned. “I think it’s what I  _ didn’t _ do this time.”

“Mm, that’s definitely new,” Donghyuck hums. “Details?”

“Later,” Jeno sighs, kicking Mark’s shin with his foot to grab his attention. “Wanna smoke? My bag is behind my desk.”

Mark gets up without much resistance, and finds the baggy fairly easily. He sets up on Jeno’s desk, and gets to work. 

“Want one?” he turns around only once to ask Donghyuck, who nods his head and then turns back to Jeno. Mark turns back to rolling. 

“Is it about Jaemin?” Donghyuck asks after a few minutes of silence, and it immediately garners a groan from Jeno. It makes Donghyuck chuckle a little. “C’mon answer the question. We’re doing this, y’know, the whole ‘talking about your feelings’ thing.”

Jeno doesn’t know why Donghyuck bothers to voice it now, as if that hasn’t been what he’d been doing every time Jeno has been feeling even just a bit down ever since they first became friends. 

“Donghyuck,” Jeno starts, succumbing to what Donghyuck wants him to. He figures he should anyways, and he knows Donghyuck would’ve made him either way. “Do Mark and I look like a couple?”

Immediately following his question, Mark makes a gagging sound from across the room. It makes Jeno wince and throw a glare at him, only to find Mark already looking at him and rolling his eyes. 

“I have gone down that path once before, and I won’t do it again,” Mark deadpans, walking over to the bed again with three nicely rolled blunts and a lighter. He passes them around before settling with his back against the wall, back to his spot on Jeno’s other side. “But why am I a part of this suddenly?”

“Well,” Jeno starts, sitting up and lighting up his own blunt. He settles into the spot between his two friends, and they all let the smoke dwindle into the air around them. “Remember that day you first showed up?” 

“How could I forget?” Mark asks, and Donghyuck snorts. “I love visiting my ex boyfriend and seeing another boy in his bed.”

Jeno rolls his eyes at Mark’s sarcasm, elbowing him in the side as he does. He knows it doesn’t really bother Mark, leave it to him to even joke around while Jeno is trying to have an important conversation.

“Yeah well, I never told Jaemin I had an ex, because well… I didn’t think it was important? It’s not like I ever thought about getting back together with you or something,” Jeno admits, knowing there are no hard feelings between the two. 

He’s only reminded of it when Mark says,

“Don’t I know it. I could do so much better than you,” he scoffs, and again, earns an elbow to the side. “Oh, can it. What happened next, this is better than any drama I get back home.”

Jeno glares at Mark for finding his turmoil simple drama entertainment, but continues anyway after taking another hit from his joint. 

“Long story short, Jaemin thinks I don’t like him and thinks that I’ve been using him, since I can easily ‘replace’ him by hanging out with you. And the fact that you’re my ex didn’t make anything any better,” Jeno sighs, letting his head thump onto the wall behind them before it falls to one side. 

He thinks it’s Mark’s shoulder his head falls onto, and then he feels weight from Donghyuck’s head fall onto his shoulder. 

“Well, that’s a bit unfair, isn’t it?” Donghyuck mumbles after a while of them all processing the information. When he brings his joint up for a hit, they all do as well. “Why would he assume the worst?”

“Did you tell him that you liked him before?” Mark asks right after, and Jeno takes a while to answer as he chooses which question to answer first. 

“Once. When we were baked,” he groans, pouting into Mark’s shoulder when he feels even more pathetic than usual at the revelation. “I’m positive he doesn’t remember.”

“Me too. If he remembered, he wouldn’t have said what he did,” Mark agrees, and even if the effects of the weed were getting to Jeno, his mind is still alert enough to pick up on what Mark said. 

“You don’t even know him,” Jeno mutters, and yelps when he feels Mark’s hand come down to slap his thigh. “The hell was that for?”

“Listen here, dumbass, I don’t need to know him very well to know he likes you. I’ve seen all the videos and pictures of you two, do he really think he would do that with just anyone?”

Jeno doesn’t answer for a minute or so, and Donghyuck takes that as his invitation to pipe up.

“Jen, you know it’s okay to be doubtful,” he says softly, and Jeno has a hard time focusing on his voice since that, paired with the weed, is making him feel sleepy. “Neither of you clarified if you guys were more than friends, and I guess even if it was obvious from an outsider's perspective, it’s always different for the people involved.”

Jeno thinks Donghyuck sounds quite eloquent right now, but Donghyuck always sounds eloquent. With that big brain of his, studying math because he knows how to use it, managing to make Renjun fall for his charms because he’s just that witty.

Jeno wishes he could use his assets like Donghyuck, but instead he’s here creating misunderstandings and is of the verge of losing the boy he loves more than anything—

Hm. That sounds nice doesn’t it?

Jaemin being the boy he loves. 

“What do I do?” Jeno whispers, sadly bringing his joint to his lips and taking a pathetic hit. “I love him.”

Jeno thinks he hears Mark tsk, but he’s not too sure. His ears are stuffed with the sound of his breathing by this point. 

“Why should you have to do something? He should apologize for assuming the worst,” Mark huffs, and Jeno was about to argue, somehow, but Donghyuck intervenes first.

“No, that’s not what he should do,” Donghyuck glares, sitting up straight and now looking directly at Mark. “It makes sense that they both felt insecure the way things were standing. Jeno, what did you say? Specifically?” 

Jeno doesn’t know if Donghyuck knows that this isn’t the best time to ask, since his mind is turning fuzzy very fast, but he tries to find the answer somewhere in there. It’s recent anyways, it shouldn’t be too hard. 

“Jaemin got jealous that I was spending so much time with Mark,” Jeno says slowly, and his eyes slip shut. They feel so heavy, and Jeno doesn’t try to keep them open. “And then didn’t understand why I didn’t tell him that Mark was my ex. I said I didn’t know I had to tell him, and that it wasn’t like we were boyfriends.”

“Well, he’s right,” Mark says after a few seconds, and Jeno can smell the smoke that he presumably exhaled. It reminds him that there’s a joint in his hand too, so he brings it up to his mouth and inhales. “They’re not boyfriends, he shouldn’t have had to tell Jaemin.”

“Okay, I get that you’re grossly biased and shit,” Donghyuck sighs, and once more, his voice still manages to sound soft while he was scolding Mark. “But you know very well that they were practically boyfriends. Can you really blame Jaemin for thinking that Jeno liked him like that, and thought that way too? It must’ve hurt to hear Jeno say they weren’t boyfriends because of that,  _ even if  _ they aren’t.”

“Can you two stop talking as if I’m not right here?” Jeno mumbles after Donghyuck’s explanation, and all he receives as a response is a flick on the forehead. He’s not too sure who it came from, since his eyes are closed, but from the sheer force itself he thinks it was Donghyuck. “Owie.”

“Well, Jaemin should’ve said that’s what he wanted,” Mark huffs, and Jeno can see that perspective. 

“Well, Jeno should’ve said what he wanted,” Donghyuck argues, and oh, Jeno can see that perspective too. “What’s with you? Weren’t you saying how lovely of a couple they’d make just  _ yesterday _ ?”

“Yeah, and then one of my best friends comes home looking and feeling like  _ this _ ,” he says, gesturing to Jeno, who’s slumped on his shoulder with one of his legs thrown over Donghyuck’s legs, and very clearly on the brink of sleep. “So forgive me, but I’d rather use my breath on someone who doesn’t make Jeno feel like shit.”

“Oh, you’re full of it, as always Mark Lee,” Donghyuck scoffs. “You’ve been biased towards Jeno since grade school,” he accuses, and well, Mark doesn’t deny it. It wasn’t a lie, and Mark feels very protective over Jeno. Especially after their friendship almost fell apart at their failed attempt at being a couple. “I hope you know it’s  _ one of your best friends  _ who’s made someone else feel the exact same way he does right now.”

Jeno has lost interest in the conversation going on around him when Mark and Donghyuck start bickering, but he gets tired of it for real when it goes on for longer than a minute. 

“I don’t know what to do,” he mumbles, and it’s quiet, but it somehow manages to catch Donghyuck and Mark’s attention. He feels someone take the blunt form his fingers, and he’s glad because his hand falls lax right after and he doesn’t want to think about what would have happened if he let the flame touch his blanket. “He didn’t talk to me at all. He just wanted me to take him home.”

Jeno catches Donghyuck, Mark, and even himself off guard when he sniffles, and he presses his face even more into Mark’s shoulder when his eyes start to water. And it definitely wasn’t from the smoke filling up the room. 

“I think he just wants some time to think things through for himself,” Donghyuck says. “You should take the time for yourself as well.”

Jeno sniffs again, and this time he feels something wet run down his cheek. His eyes are still closed, so he doesn’t know who’s hand it is that comes up and wipes the wetness away. All he knows is that that hand trails up to his hair right after, and runs through it. 

Maybe it’s Donghyuck.

“I love him,” Jeno mutters into the silence after a while, when he truly feels like he can’t keep himself awake for any longer. And plus, his dreams seem pretty inviting right now, a world where he and Jaemin are happy together and aren’t in the midst of a fight. “I really do.”

The last thing Jeno hears is twin sighs before he falls asleep, and lets the magic of dreams put him at ease, even if it is only for a couple hours. 

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


Jaemin feels like he’s faced the biggest betrayal of all time when Renjun says he’ll have to go to the library alone. 

Jaemin doesn’t like being places alone, especially now when he doesn’t know who (read: Jeno, Mark, Donghyuck) is going to pop around the corner and interrogate him. Or maybe even yell at him, he’s not too sure and he won’t be too surprised, no matter the outcome. 

Actually, he wouldn’t mind it if it was Donghyuck, he’s rather neutral. He’s also more bearable than Mark, who Jaemin still doesn’t understand. 

Anyways, that wasn’t something to think about right now. Right now, he focuses on the assignment he’s supposed to be working on, something he’s been trying to tackle for the past three days. Maybe he should’ve tried harder though, because maybe then he wouldn’t be scrambling last minute. 

But alas, these are his youth’s highs and lows anyways, might as well get used to them. 

Jaemin doesn’t really know how long he’s been sitting in the library, attempting to complete his work. All he remembers is that the sun was definitely high in the sky when he walked in, and now when he looks out the window, the sky is already navy dark. 

He sighs, feeling a headache forming as he realizes how much time he’s been spending on this, and how little progress he’s made. 

Why did he even take an ancient history course? It had sounded boring to him, and he’s come to realize that it  _ is  _ boring. He doesn’t know what he was thinking when he opted for it.

But he couldn’t chastise himself too much for his past mistakes right now, he had other, more important things to accomplish. 

At least, that’s what he tells himself as his brain fails to cooperate with him for the next forty minutes. 

Jaemin feels beyond helpless as he finally lets his head fall onto his keyboard in defeat, debating what would happen if he simply handed in whatever he had somehow managed to complete. 

_ A fifty doesn’t sound too bad right now… _

“First of all, you wrote Greece there when it should’ve been Rome,” 

Jaemin startles at the voice, picking his head up so fast he’s surprised he didn’t give himself whiplash. 

When he doesn’t see someone in front of him, he turns his head around and sees someone standing behind him, peering at his laptop screen.

Jaemin would get upset at the invasion of privacy if he wasn’t rendered speechless by who was standing behind him in the first place. 

“And really? You don’t know that it was  _ before  _ the 1950s? Do you sleep through your class?” Mark asks, and while Jaemin doesn’t appreciate the condescending tone, he can’t find the words in his throat to tell Mark off for it. 

Mark is still skimming through his laptop screen, and Jaemin is still looking at him for a few more seconds, until Mark finally looks at him and squints his eyes. 

“Don’t look at me like that,” he grumbles, jerking his head back towards his laptop screen. “Go on. Fix your mistakes.” 

Jaemin doesn’t want to listen to what Mark had said, what corrections Mark had made, but he admits he’s rather helpless at this point. 

Mark only rolls his eyes when he sees Jaemin’s frozen state. 

“Y’know, most people would appreciate the help,” he quips, and much to Jaemin’s horror, pulls out a chair and sits himself next to him. “Especially people who are clearly struggling.”

Finally, Jaemin finds his voice. 

“I don’t need your help,” he says, squaring his shoulders and sitting up straighter to make himself look better. Even if he was terribly confused and also a bit scared about Mark and him… Alone. It was weird. “I didn’t ask you to snoop over my shoulder.”

Mark narrows his eyes at this, and Jaemin thinks he’s going to say something argumentative, and that they were really going to go at it in the library of all places. God, it would be so embarrassing to be kicked out of the library. 

“You also messed up your very first date,” he notes instead, and Jaemin does not like how passive he sounds. “So your whole timeline is inaccurate.”

Reluctantly, and with a very prudent frown on his face, Jaemin fixes the two mistakes Mark had pointed out earlier, and deletes the first date he had mentioned. His fingers hover over the keyboard, and he’s staring straight at his screen, hoping that Mark catches onto his nonverbal waiting.

And thankfully, he does. 

Mark starts reading through everything he wrote, pointing out inaccuracies and things that don’t make sense. In any other circumstance, Jaemin thinks he would’ve ended up strangling Mark because he sounds so pretentious while correcting him, but he’s desperate and in a time crunch, so he lets it slide. 

Just this once though, if this ever happened again he wasn’t sure if Mark would make it out of his presence alive. 

When Jaemin is well on his way to finally finishing his assignment with the right information and the right idea, begrudgingly because of Mark Lee, he tries his very best to ignore Mark, who is still sitting next to him. 

He’d have thought Mark would’ve left by now, done tormenting Jaemin and dangling his knowledge over his head, but he hasn’t. He’s still sitting there, drumming his fingers against the table and looking around the library like he’s never seen it before. 

And that’s when it hits Jaemin, that he probably hasn’t. 

He doesn’t think he’s ever seen Mark around here, and he isn’t even sure if Mark goes to this school… 

“Do you even go here?” Jaemin blurts out, unable to help himself as he thinks more and more about it. Sure, there are a lot of people he doesn’t know at this school, but he would’ve thought that with Jeno and Mark being exes, it would’ve been a known fact that they go to the same school. 

Mark only snorts at his question, and Jaemin really regrets asking. 

“No, of course not,” he answers, and as always, he sounds passive, and neutral, and like everything else which pisses Jaemin off, because you shouldn’t sound like that in a conversation. “Did it take you that long to figure it out?” 

“Y’know, I hardly think it’s a feat to have a proper conversation,” Jaemin mumbles, and as he expected, Mark catches onto it.

He doesn’t know if that’s a good thing though, when Mark turns his body so that he was facing Jaemin, and now, Jaemin has all of his attention. He would’ve started sweating if the library wasn’t air conditioned. 

“Well it is,” Mark says seriously, and when Jaemin throws him a side glance, his elbows are resting on his knees and he’s leaning forward, as if scrutinizing him. Jaemin doesn’t think that’s too far from the truth. 

Jaemin doesn’t say anything, because really, how was he supposed to respond to that? 

“I stayed to study in my hometown, but Jeno and Donghyuck moved here for school. I’m only visiting for a while, I have the time.”

Jaemin doesn’t answer, though he does take the explanation in stride. It clears things up a little. 

He just focuses on finishing his assignment, because the sooner he’s done the sooner he can leave and the sooner he’ll have Mark’s weird stare off of him. Really, why was he still staring at him? Jaemin is pretty sure his hair looks fine and that there’s nothing on his face. 

“You know, I really don’t understand you,” Mark finally sighs after a few more, long minutes of uncomfortable silence. Well, it was uncomfortable for Jaemin at least, he has no idea what goes in Mark’s head. 

When Jaemin doesn’t say anything to Mark’s comment, Mark takes this as an invite to continue speaking. 

“Like, at first I thought you were nice, pretty, and chill on the internet,” he starts, and Jaemin’s brain short circuits.  _ Mark _ thought that of  _ him _ ? That doesn’t sound right at all. “And then I thought maybe you were just different in person, but you’ve been pretty nice.”

Jaemin doesn’t know what to make of that, so he doesn’t take anything from it. He just listens, even if he isn’t really typing actual words anymore. And he’s pretty sure Mark can see that, but that wasn’t one of Jaemin’s worries right now. He’s more so trying to wrap his head around everything he’s hearing. 

“But then… then you were rude, so I still don’t know.”

Jaemin throws Mark a glance out of his peripheral vision at that, just to see Mark’s lips set into a thin line and his eyes cold. 

“I’m not rude,” Jaemin defends, though he doesn’t know how much truth his statement holds. All he knows is that Mark definitely wasn’t someone to tell him if he was rude or not. “You’re worse.”

Jaemin hears Mark scoff, and he rolls his eyes before he can will himself not to. He thinks Mark didn’t see that, but is proven wrong when Mark sneers.

“Oh definitely. Just go around breaking hearts as a hobby then?” 

Jaemin glares at him, already feeling his blood boiling. 

“What are you talking about?” he spits, distasteful as he also turns his full attention to Mark. It seems like Mark has finally been successful in hitting a nerve. “Last time I checked—”

“You were the one who thought Jeno was just some idiot who thinks with his dick,” Mark intervenes, and the mention of Jeno’s name makes Jaemin falter a bit. But he’s more angry than anything else right now. 

“Forgive me for even entertaining the idea, especially when he gives me reason to.”

“Reason,” Mark scoffs, looking like he was in disbelief. “Gave you reasons, huh? What part of him liking you wasn’t clear enough?” 

Jaemin doesn’t answer, alarmed by Mark saying Jeno likes him. Mark continues speaking. 

“Was it the part when he took you on dates? Or was it when he took care of you at parties? Or maybe it was when he actually let you steal half his wardrobe. Possibly even when he tried to spend time with you almost everyday.”

When Mark puts it like that, it makes Jaemin feel like the bad guy. But he knows that this couldn’t be all on him. 

“And how was  _ I  _ not clear enough?” Jaemin counters, sitting up straight again and fixing Mark with a glare. “Did he not get it when I stopped being cold to him? Did he not get it when I kissed him, and let him— let him touch me!”

Jaemin squeaks the last part out, embarrassed for admitting to such a thing in front of Mark,  _ Jeno’s ex.  _ Though he doubts it’s something Mark didn't already know. 

“Or maybe it was when we danced in the dark,” Jaemin continues, recalling all the, maybe subtle, times he let himself slip and let it be known that he thought of Jeno as more than a friend. “Or when I let him sleep in my bed. Maybe it was even when I  _ told  _ him that I fell for him.” 

When Mark stays silent, Jaemin counts it as a small victory. 

“So tell me,” he adds on, quieter, and just a little bit calmer. It felt a little good, to get that all off of his chest. “Who goes around breaking hearts?”

“Idiot,” Mark scoffs again, and Jaemin feels his eyebrow twitch. How dare Mark call him an idiot after  _ everything _ he just— “The both of you.” 

Oh. He was calling Jeno an idiot too. 

“It’s not that hard to read the signs,” Mark continues, and Jaemin is a little taken aback by how soft his voice sounds. It reminds him of the Mark who had complimented his skirt the other day. “But you’re making it hard for yourself because you’re only seeing what you want to see.”

Jaemin finally looks away then, overwhelmed by Mark’s words. He hadn’t thought about it like that, and while it makes his head spin, it also makes him feel guilty. Jaemin had been mad at Jeno for not picking up on his hints, all the while he wasn’t picking up on Jeno’s either. 

“And I don’t know  _ why _ the both of you are like this,” he adds, rolling his eyes. But the twitch of his lips betray him, and Jaemin finds that Mark isn’t always as prickly as before. “Maybe dumbasses deserve each other.”

Jaemin only has  _ half  _ the mind to hit Mark. 

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


“A project… where you have to photograph the person you’ve spent the most time with this… month?” 

“Yes! How niche is that?” 

“Okay um, you can just use me if you’d like,” Renjun assures, but it isn’t assuring at all to Jaemin’s ears. 

“I appreciate it, but half the class was already gossiping about me taking pictures of Jeno, so the prof already wrote down that’s who I’ll be submitting,” he groans, dreading the inevitable. “Who even does that?” 

Jaemin bangs his head against Renjun’s desk, at a complete loss. 

What kind of prof even does that? Jaemin would like to have a word or two with them if he wasn’t so preoccupied with other things. 

What a niche, unfair, totally targeted project. 

At least, he believes it is that way. 

“Renjun, I can’t even— just  _ how  _ am I supposed to do this with him? I can’t even bear to talk to Mark or Donghyuck when Jeno is in the same vicinity because I’m afraid he’ll see me.”

Renjun would roll his eyes at Jaemin’s dramatics if he didn’t think they made sense. Well, as much sense as it could make when it comes to Jaemin, who tends to play things out longer than they need to.

Renjun thinks a perfect example would be how long Jaemin had played out him and Jeno dancing around each other. 

Even if they were still dancing around each other now— except it was from a distance now. 

Anyways, Renjun digresses. 

And plus, Jaemin seems to be skimming over one fact, but Renjun isn’t surprised that he is, given that he normally likes to jump to the worst of conclusions. 

“You do know that no one is going to make you do this, right? Who cares if you send in pictures of me instead of Jeno?” Renjun points out, resting a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You don’t  _ have  _ to.”

And realistically, Jaemin knows this. He doesn’t  _ have  _ to, of course he doesn’t. And no one can make him, for obvious reasons. 

But it is an opportunity, something which would force Jaemin to listen to everything Mark has said ( _ “It’s embarrassing, for me, Mark Lee Minhyung, to hang out with two idiots. Three if you count Donghyuck. Anyways, sort your shit out, this is embarrassing.” _ ) 

And Jaemin always performed better under pressure anyways. Maybe this was a sign from the universe, or maybe it was Jaemin just finally doing something about the weeks he’s spent thinking himself into despair, but it’s something nonetheless. 

Jaemin would be foolish to turn this down, not when it’s smacked him in the face and called him silly. Plus, Mark would probably call him an idiot again if he did, and he’s had enough of that from him. Mark couldn’t even think of anything better than that word in the first place, so maybe he was the real idiot. 

Not that he’d ever tell Mark that, God no, he’s a bit terrified of what that’ll entail for him. 

“I know I don’t have to,” Jaemin finally sighs, after mulling (not really, he’s already known), in his head. “But who else is gonna kick my ass all the way to Jeno if it isn’t school, right? It’s been kicking my ass in every other aspect, it’s about time it’s come in handy.” 

Maybe another source of motivation was all the comments and tweets asking about if he and Jeno were still ‘friends’, he’s not really sure if anyone had bought that narrative in the first place. 

His social media is always flooded with things about Jeno, but it’s particularly worse now that they haven’t been hanging out together as often. Jaemin has been posting drafts on TikTok, and he’s put a bit at ease when he sees Jeno do the same thing. 

But they’re silent on Instagram, and as much as it shouldn’t concern as many people as it is concerning, he finds himself scrambling to find pictures of selfies they haven’t uploaded yet. 

But, to no avail.

He’s about to run out of drafts soon, and he’s sure things won’t look good for him ( _ either of them,  _ his brain unhelpfully supplies. Jaemin kind of wants to knock himself out for even having that thought), so he better get a move on. 

And what better time than the present? 

  
  


“I will literally give you three seconds to get off of your ass, or I’m giving Donghyuck all of your weed.”

“You fucking  _ wouldn’t _ ,” Jeno seethes, immediately sitting up from where he was laying down, glaring at Mark and eyeing the baggy in his hand. 

“Do I look like I fuck around, Lee?” he asks, shaking the baggy tauntingly. 

Jeno doesn’t think before he lunges towards the bag, snatching it from Mark and holding it to his chest protectively. Not his proudest moment. 

“You need to sort out your priorities,” Mark scoffs, jumping onto Jeno’s bed himself and hugging a pillow in his lap. “Seriously dude, that’s fucked.”

“It’s money, Mark, I don’t throw it around,” Jeno reasons, rolling his eyes safely putting his baggy away somewhere Mark can’t see. Or at least he thinks Mark can’t see, he’s not too sure. “And if you’re here just to tell me I’m pathetic, it’s the fourth time this week. Aren't you tired of it yet?”

“If you’re at the liberty to ask me that, I believe I should ask you a question,” Mark quips, ignoring Jeno’s plea and smirking, self satisfied, at the groan he lets out. “Aren't  _ you  _ tired of  _ yourself _ ?” 

“You,” Jeno starts, pointing a finger at him from where he’s sat down at his desk chair, glaring for the nth time this night. “You’re an asshole, you know that right?” 

“So I’ve heard,” Mark hums, and Jeno kind of wonders how he lives with himself. This thought makes him wonder how he and Donghyuck live with him too, but that’s quickly pushed to the side when Mark says, “But I’ve got a brain, and at least I know how to use it.” 

“It’s getting very hard to tolerate you these days,” Jeno grunts, and he isn’t one but surprised when Mark smiles. But it does still irk him. 

“Yeah well, you’ve dealt with it already, you can deal with it for a bit longer,” he shrugs, pulling his phone out when it vibrates against his pocket. He reads something on his screen before his thumbs work rapidly, and Jeno wonders just what it is that rips Mark’s attention away from him.

Thankfully, he doesn’t have to wait long for the answer, since Mark grins up at him a minute later. 

“And it looks like you’ll have to put that brain to work soon,” he says happily, and Jeno finds it a little terrifying how cheery he sounds about the whole thing. 

A cheery Mark, accompanied with that smile, usually means a Mark who’s scheming, or enjoying someone’s dismay. 

And when it comes to him, Jeno doesn’t know what to expect. He wouldn’t be surprised if Mark was doing all those two  _ and  _ more. 

“I don’t like that look,” Jeno voices carefully, sitting up straighter and looking more skeptical. “I really, really don’t.”

“That’s fine, but you know what you  _ do  _ like?” Mark asks, and he sounds eager too, almost lifting himself off of the bed as he leans forward and waits for Jeno’s response. 

His giddiness is what’s really scaring Jeno. So much so to the point that he doesn’t answer right away, which prompts Mark to continue on his own.

“Jaemin,” he says, and Jeno immediately scowls. Way to point out the obvious, way to rub salt in the wound, way to poke a bruise, and all those expressions alike. He’s sick of Mark Lee, Jeno has decided. “Which is good, because you’re set to meet in… what was it?” Mark asks himself, checking his phone once more. “Ah, an hour.”

Jeno just waits for the punchline. 

The punchline that doesn’t come. 

“You’re joking,” he says drily, finding it hard to swallow, and was it just him, or did it get hot in here? He’s starting to sweat, and it’s only intensified when Mark looks at him like  _ that.  _

“I’m not,” Mark grins, and Jeno really does break out into a full sweat at that, jumping up from his chair and fanning himself as he tries to cool down. “Oh, don’t get so worked up,” he tsks, and Jeno kind of wants to tsk at him. 

But he doesn’t, because right now he's more freaked out than anything else. 

“How can I— how can I not get worked up!” Jeno shrieks, staring at Mark incredulously. “I haven’t seen Jaemin in weeks, Mark!  _ Weeks!  _ Maybe you don’t remember that because suddenly, you guys are besties!” 

Mark only cocks an eyebrow up at that, jumping off of Jeno’s bed and standing right in front of him. Jeno has maybe half on inch over Mark, but it wasn’t noticeable now, not when the look on Mark’s face made Jeno feel ten times smaller.

“Oh yeah?” he pouts mockingly, and Jeno would strangle all the faux sympathy out of that voice if he was a violent person who didn’t like Mark. “And who's to blame for that? Surely, it couldn’t be me.” 

Jeno’s shoulders drop, and he huffs right in Mark’s face as he goes to his closet, trying to find something appropriate to wear around Jaemin. 

Whether he tires or not, Jaemin is always dressed to impress, and Jeno thinks he looks like a total bird's nest compared to him. 

If he were to go see Jaemin, then he needed to look his best.

Which brings him to the thought— why was he going to see Jaemin? 

“Wait,” he says, stopping his movement when his belt was halfway through the loops of his jeans. “Why? Why would I go see Jaemin in an hour? And if he wanted to see me, why didn’t  _ he _ tell me? Why did you tell you?”

Jeno can’t help but sound a little jealous, wondering if it was really necessary to talk through Mark instead of each other. But really, Jaemin could’ve simply asked him straight? It’s not like he would’ve ignored him or anything.

“Because you’d probably spend an hour trying to think of a response,” Mark answers, rolling his eyes as he tosses Jeno a few rings to wear. “But now that I’m here, I can push you out of this door and into Jaemin’s arms,” he explains dramatically, and Jeno can’t even find it in himself to be annoyed as he changes shirts. 

“Right,” he says instead, looking at himself carefully in the mirror. His white button up shirt tucked nicely into black jeans, belt buckles centered, and green leather jacket sitting properly on his shoulders. His necklace is centred on his chest, and his rings match together perfectly. 

Jeno briefly wonders if he should do anything with his hair, but decides he doesn’t have the time to. He simply runs a few fingers through it and hopes for the best. 

“Jeno,” Mark calls when Jeno’s hand is on the doorknob, making the latter look back at him, expecting maybe some words of encouragement or something along those lines. Instead, he gets, “Do you even know where you’re going?”    
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


“I feel stupid for taking your word for this,” Jaemin mutters, hoping no one is listening to his phone call as he walks through campus and to the maths building. “Why did I listen to you of all people?” 

“ _ Because I know him the best _ ,” Mark answers through the phone speaker, and Jaemin wants to argue that  _ he  _ knows Jeno the best, but that seems foolish when he’s talking to someone Jeno has known since grade school. And when it was probably Donghyuck who knew him the best. “ _ And because you wanna seduce him _ .”

“I do not want to seduce him!” Jaemin hisses, looking around his surroundings hurriedly to make sure no one heard that. He gets a few strange looks, but that’s all. “I don’t want to seduce him,” he repeats in a lower tone, sniffling at the end. “But I wouldn’t mind giving him blue balls. He deserves it.” 

“ _ I can’t say I disagree _ ,” Mark hums, and Jaemin hears the spring of a mattress from his side. “He was about to leave without knowing where to even go,” he snorts, and Jaemin can’t help but grin too. How typical. “But I stopped him before he could, so if you’re not at least halfway there, he’ll be there before you.”

Jaemin takes a quick look at his surroundings at that, seeing that he is around halfway there anyways. 

“I’ll be there soon,” he lets Mark know, receiving only another hum in return.

Jaemin doesn’t know why he doesn’t end the call, because they’re both not speaking and it’s a bit awkward. He’s about to lie and say he’s already arrived just so that he has an excuse to hang up, but Mark speaks before he can. 

“I hope you two figure it out,” he says genuinely, and Jaemin almost falters on his next step because of that. “And please hear him out, he likes you a lot, Jaemin.” 

Jaemin nods his head before he realizes Mark can’t see him, so he assures him genuinely before hanging up the call and opening the door into the maths building. 

It’s only now that Jaemin feels his nerves set in, a mere few hallway turns away from being face to face with Jeno once again. 

He fiddles with the hem of his skirt, makes sure his sweater is tucked in nicely, adjusts the strap of his camera bag, and overall ends up touching his hair more than he probably should’ve. 

But he can’t help it. The anticipation of finally seeing Jeno again after many weeks makes him want to look his best, makes him want to leave Jeno breathless.

He wants Jeno to see what he should’ve missed, in the weeks they’ve spent apart. 

And it’s at the last moment that he wonders if Jeno will have that mindset too. Seeing Jeno all dressed up and looking as effortlessly attractive as he always does makes Jaemin’s gut twist, and he now dreads what he’ll be seeing when he makes it to the seminar room. 

Thankfully, there aren’t many people in the hallways or anything, which Jaemin is thankful for as he takes a moment to collect himself and take deep breaths. 

In one corner of his mind, he feels like he’s being dramatic. But in the other corner, he feels he’s only acting this way because he's nervous to see Jeno. Rightfully nervous as well, they didn’t part on the nicest note. 

Jaemin pats his skirt down one last time before opening the door, freezing for only a second when he sees Jeno is already there. 

They make eye contact and stare at each other for what feels like forever, before Jeno looks away, and his eyes rake down Jaemin’s outfit instead.

An oversized red knit sweater, tucked into a white tennis skirt with white Doc Martens. It’s so simple, and it’s along the lines of something Jeno has seen him wear before, but his breath is still taken away. 

When his eyes look back at Jaemin’s face, he takes in the hints of gold in his eyeshadow, and the pretty red lip gloss on his lips. 

Jaemin looks so pretty, like he always does to Jeno. But maybe he looks just that little bit prettier, because it’s been a while since Jeno’s seen his beautiful face in person. 

“Staring is rude,” Jaemin says, and uses that as an excuse to rip his eyes away from the way Jeno’s button up hugs his chest like a second skin, and the way his thighs look like they’re begging to be released from their denim confinements. “Staring without even saying hello is even more rude.”

Jaemin hears Jeno clear his throat after that, and busies himself with taking his camera out instead. This way, he can act like the zippers on his bag are the most interesting things on the planet. 

“Did you—” Jeno starts, stopping when he sees how startled Jaemin got at his sudden voice. It makes him awkwardly clear his throat again, and he’s glad Jaemin isn’t looking at him as he wipes his sweaty palms on his jeans. “Did you wanna talk?”

“Not at first, no,” Jaemin answers truthfully, pulling his camera around his neck and turning it on. “I just need a model for a project.”

Jaemin pretends like he doesn’t see Jeno deflate a little. 

“Oh,” he says, looking around the room a few times over, wracking his brain for something to say. “Okay yeah— yeah, what do you need me to do?” 

Jaemin presses his lips in a thin line to suppress himself from laughing at Jeno fumbling, and somehow manages to stay calm.

“Just pose,” he mumbles, standing up straighter and finally looking at Jeno. “As if you were taking an Instagram photo,” Jaemin says, straightening his back once more. “Against the white wall, go on,” he instructs when Jeno just stands there blankly.

Jeno does as Jaemin says, and for the first few seconds, he’s awkward with Jaemin’s eyes on him. But when Jaemin brings the camera up to his face, and Jeno can’t see his eyes boring into him, posing in front of the camera is a bit easier.

Jaemin doesn’t really prompt him, he just either walks closer to Jeno, or steps back. Sometimes he’ll even tell Jeno to stand where he is and not to move, while Jaemin tries different angles. 

Jeno didn’t ask what the project was, but he is curious. He stays mum though, and lets the minutes tick by as the sounds of Jaemin pressing the shutter fill the seminar room. 

Jeno had closed his eyes for a picture, and when he opens them again, Jaemin’s camera lense is almost only a hair away from touching his nose. 

Jaemin slowly brings the camera down, and Jeno can see the gold in his eyeshadow much clearer now.

It looks pretty.

Just like the way Jaemin’s nose sits on his face, just like the way Jaemin’s cupid’s bow dips, just like the way Jaemin’s eyelashes flutter against his cheeks.

Very, very pretty. 

Jeno doesn’t say anything when his eyes find themselves looking into Jaemin’s again, trying to gage at any type of feeling Jaemin might have towards him. Anger, sadness, confusion, hatred… He’ll take anything after being so disconnected from him for so long. 

But Jeno can’t find anything, and when Jaemin’s eyes dip down to his lips, he doesn’t have time to think about what it means before Jaemin is leaning closer a bit, standing just the littlest bit on his tippy toes and pressing the softest peck to his lips. 

Jeno doesn’t even have time to register the kiss before Jaemin pulls away, flat on his feet again and avoiding his eyes. 

“Sorry,” he mumbles, looking to the side. He’s about to take a step too, but Jeno leans in and catches his lips in another soft peck before he can. 

“I miss you,” he whispers when he pulls away this time, watching as Jaemin’s eyes open slowly, as his cheeks redden just the tiniest bit. 

“I miss you too,” Jaemin whispers back, and Jeno feels a little bit of his nerves settle at that. Not all of them, but it was a start. “I hate you.”

Jeno hums, expecting to hear something along those lines. He doesn’t move any closer to Jaemin, but their noses are still practically touching. 

“I know,” he ends up sighing. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t the nicest thing to say, was it?” 

“No, it really wasn’t,” Jaemin shakes his head, and his voice sounds so cute, this quiet and soft. Jeno’s heart kind of wants to explode. 

And it really does explode, when Jaemin takes that extra step closer, forcing Jeno to take a step back, pressing him further against the wall. But Jaemin doesn’t stop there, taking one more step closer, until he is standing between Jeno’s legs. 

“I want to know what you think of me,” Jaemin says firmly, and Jeno nods his head without even thinking about it. “Because I need to know that I’m not just entertainment to you.”

“You’ve never been that,” Jeno assures. “You’re more than a friend. You’re Jaemin and I… really like you…” 

Jaemin’s heart skips a beat, or two, or three (he’s not really sure), at Jeno’s words, and he urges himself to suppress the butterflies swarming his stomach. 

“Really?” he asks, maybe for reassurance, maybe just to hear Jeno say it again. Either or works. 

“Yes, I’ve… liked you for a very long time, Nana,” Jeno nods, and his eyes drift back to Jaemin’s lips. But he doesn’t do anything about it. “Too long, actually.”

Jaemin finally lets the butterflies free, and finally, his heart and mind are put at ease. 

“I like you too,” he smiles, and it only gets wider when Jeno doesn’t even try to hide the way his breath catches, or the way his eyes widen. Maybe it’s just to get another similar reaction out of him, but Jaemin decides to just go for a kill and says, “Jeno, please be my boyfriend.” 

When Jeno doesn’t do anything but gape at Jaemin, the latter grabs one of Jeno’s hands with his own, and laces their fingers together. He squeezes too, and then smiles gently at Jeno.

“Please?”

“Yeah,” he finally breathes out, looking between Jaemin’s face and their hands. “Yeah, I— yes. I want to be your boyfriend, holy shit—” 

Jeno gets cut off by Jaemin’s giggle, and he feels like he’s melting. So he leans in and kisses him again finally, cupping his face, still just as soft as the way Jaemin’s skin feels underneath his fingertips. 

“I missed you,” Jaemin sighs happily once more, and his hands drop the camera he was holding, just to pull Jeno closer and relish in the feeling of holding him again. “So much, so much.” 

Jeno hums, and he pulls away just to bring Jaemin’s camera over and off his neck, placing it onto the table behind them before his hands find home on Jaemin’s waist, for the first time in a very long time. 

He can’t help it when he squeezes his hands, and it has Jaemin’s breath hitching as he presses their bodies closer, wanting to feel the familiar planes and curves of Jeno body once more. 

“Never gonna let you go ever again,” Jeno mumbles into his ear, just as his fingers brush along the hem of Jaemin’s skirt. “It was torture.” 

“It better have been,” Jaemin snarks back, but it sounds a bit weak, especially when Jeno takes his earlobe between his teeth. Jaemin shivers, and one of his hands wrap around Jeno’s neck just to pull at the hair on his nape. “You deserved it.”

“Sure I did,” Jeno agrees, but Jaemin can’t tell if he’s being sarcastic or not. He doesn’t get to find out either, because Jeno kisses him again right after. 

This time he’s harder, letting intent and passion bleed through their kiss as his hands start roaming around more, and the familiar heat they leave in their wake makes Jaemin want to fall into Jeno’s arms and never leave. 

But for now, he only guides one of Jeno’s hands under his skirt and up his thigh when Jeno’s tongue licks past the seam of his lips. 

And when Jeno squeezes around his thigh, Jaemin smiles as they break the kiss. 

“What is this?” Jeno asks breathlessly, flipping up Jaemin’s skirt just a bit to catch sight of what he’s been feeling under his fingertips. 

“A present,” Jaemin answers cheekily, holding up the hem of his own skirt just for Jeno to see everything he had underneath. “A little birdie told me red was your favourite colour.”

Jeno’s mouth parches at the full sight of the red garter wrapped around Jaemin’s thigh. It has two red leather straps which cross at the front, a gold outline of a heart connecting them together. The garter sits just right around Jaemin’s slim thigh, and the gold and red makes his skin look even more irresistible. 

“Fuck,” he curses, brain short-circuiting as he seems unable to rip his eyes away. “Shit, sweetheart, you have no idea what you’re doing to me.”

“I think I can gage a bit,” Jaemin laughs, letting his skirt drop and effectively ripping Jeno’s gaze away from his legs. When Jeno looks back up at Jaemin’s face, Jaemin raises an eyebrow. “Are you just going to stare? Or are you going to do something about it?”

Jeno growls before flipping their positions, hands on Jaemin’s waist as he pins him against the wall. Their kiss starts roughly as their lips meet, teeth clashing together and saliva quickly pooling between them. 

“When did you start wearing things like that under your skirts?” Jeno asks, already untucking Jaemin’s sweater and letting his hands roam around his bare skin. 

“When Mark told me you liked things like that,” Jaemin replies, leaning into Jeno’s touch and biting his lip as he looks up at him. “Fuck, please touch me.”

But his plea falls deaf to Jeno’s ears, the only thing running through his mind being,

“You let Mark see you in this?” 

Jaemin’s eyebrows furrow for all of a second before he shakes his head, grabbing Jeno’s hand and bringing it down to his garter again.

“I just sent him pictures before buying one,” he explains breathlessly, whining when Jeno flicks one of his nipples harshly. “Wanted it to be pretty for you.” 

Jeno feels possessiveness run through him at this, and he only grips Jaemin tighter. 

“Don’t even think about it,” he hisses, kissing down Jaemin’s jaw as he does so. “You ask  _ me _ , darling, it’d be such a shame for anyone else to know how dolled up you get for me.” 

Jaemin nods his head without really thinking, just because Jeno sounds so hot when his voice rings that low, and because his fingers feel like magic as they finally make their way out from under his sweater and down his thighs once more. 

“Turn around, baby,” he whispers, and Jaemin doesn’t hesitate before obliging, facing the wall now. He pushes his ass out just a bit, and Jeno seems to notice by the way he squeezes lightly over his skirt. “Do you have any lube?”

The question excites Jaemin, and he nods his head rapidly. 

“Camera bag,” he says, and he hears Jeno fiddling with his bag right after. 

“How sneaky baby, you wanted this to happen, didn’t you?” Jeno teases, finally finding the packet of lube and crowding up behind Jaemin once more. 

Jeno flips his skirt up just as Jaemin nods his head, and Jaemin flushes when he feels the cool air in the room hit his backside. 

“Fuck me,” he begs brokenly, wiggling his ass back even more. “Please Jeno, I’ve waited so long.”

“Then you can wait a little longer,” Jeno hums, kissing just behind Jaemin’s ear right after. He knows Jaemin would start whining, so he continues and whispers, “I’ll make our first time special, Nana. You don’t deserve to take it in a seminar room.” 

Jaemin’s heart melts at Jeno’s honest and soft words, and he looks over his shoulder just to see the genuinity in Jeno’s eyes. 

“Kiss me, you sap,” he mutters, and Jeno smiles as he does so, causing Jaemin to grin identically. “What're you gonna do then?” he asks, still noticing the packet of lube in Jeno’s hands. 

“I’m gonna fuck your thighs, babe. That alright?” 

Jaemin moans at the words alone, and his forehead thumps onto the wall into front of him. 

“Yeah, please. Fuck my thighs,” Jaemin nods, reaching behind him and pulling the fabric of his skirt to the front, where he holds it so that it doesn’t get in the way. “Shit that’s like— the hottest thing you’ve ever said,” he groans, and Jeno chuckles from behind him. 

“Hm, well I’m glad you think so,” Jeno says, and although he sounds a bit smug, Jaemin is too excited to even worry about that. Instead, he preens his ears and listens to Jeno unbuckling his belt, and unzipping his pants. “Spread your legs a little bit doll, gotta get you a bit wet.” 

Jaemin whimpers at Jeno’s voice, but does as told and shudders a little when the coolness of the gel and the warmth of Jeno’s palm runs along the inside of his thighs. Some lube gets smeared into the back of his thighs too, but he isn’t even thinking about that when he hears Jeno lube up his own length. 

“Please,” Jaemin pleads, growing desperate every second he has to feel Jeno grip his hips, Jeno’s chest rising and falling against his back, Jeno’s hard length poking his thigh. “Jen…” 

“Don’t worry baby,” Jeno grunts, pulling Jaemin’s thighs more flush against his by the heart of the garter. “You just gotta keep quiet.” 

And then Jeno is pushing between his thighs, the warmth and tightness making him groan right into Jaemin’s ear. 

“Shit,” Jaemin gasps, squeezing his thighs together tighter, feeling Jeno’s length between them. It makes his tummy swirl with arousal, and Jaemin doesn’t think he’s ever been this turned on in his life. 

“I love your thighs,” Jeno grunts, and he keeps thrusting, and it’s torture for Jaemin, thinking about what it’d be like if Jeno fucked a different hole instead. “They’re so perfect, just like the rest of you.”

The garter is digging into Jaemin’s skin, the leather and metal of the heart outline bound to leave marks, but he can’t bring himself to hate it, not when pleasure is taking up most of his mind. 

Jaemin’s hand fishes his own cock out of his underwear, rock hard and leaking precome. It makes for good lubricant, and Jaemin’s hand works fast when Jeno picks up the pace of his thrusts, as well as when one of Jeno’s arms wraps around his waist. 

“Did you think about me?” he asks, and Jaemin is just a bit taken aback by the question, his hand faltering around his length. “Did you think about my cock?”

Jaemin whines at Jeno’s words, and he finds himself nodding,  _ admitting _ , to having thought about it in the time that they weren’t together. 

“Yeah, yes I did Jen,” Jaemin moans, squeezing the tip of his cock and replaying all the memories of his prolonged showers, very late nights, and restless mornings. “Thought about you fucking me, your cock splitting me open, making me  _ yours _ ,” he moans shamelessly, and if he weren’t this drunk off of the pleasure he’s currently experiencing, Jaemin would be embarrassed. 

“Fuck, you must’ve been so lonely,” Jeno groans, and his hips slam faster against his thighs, and Jaemin knows he’s close by how tight his grip on Jaemin’s waist and garter gets. “Never satisfied, were you?” 

Jaemin shakes his head as he feels his orgasm approaching, his hand working faster.

“N-No, only—” Jaemin cuts himself off with a gasp as pleasure wracks through his body, and as heat spreads all the way to his fingertips. “Only you, Jeno, fuck. Only you can satisfy me,” he whimpers, working himself through the aftershocks and whining when Jeno pulls out of between his thighs to come onto the back of them. 

“Nana,” Jeno gasps as his own orgasm washes over him, and Jaemin finds himself squeezing Jeno’s hand, which is still pulling on his garter. “You’re so  _ hot _ ,” he groans, knocking his forehead down between Jaemin’s shoulder blades. 

“Mhm,” Jaemin hums, feeling lethargy crawl into his bones. “Makeup wipes in the bag,” he mumbles, and thinks Jeno catches it when he feels the hand clutching his garter let go, and then promptly hears Jeno taking a makeup wipe out and gently cleaning his thighs. “Thank you babe.”

Jeno preens under the nickname, kissing Jaemin’s thighs for extra measure before tossing the wipes away and flipping Jaemin’s skirt back down, and then tucking himself back into his pants. 

However, when Jeno’s hands fiddle with the garter again, and Jaemin feels it come loose, he lets out a sound of confusion. 

“What're you doing?” Jaemin asks, mustering up enough energy and turning around so that his back was now leaning against the wall. He sees Jeno twirling the garter between his fingers, and he remains confused. 

“This is mine now,” Jeno shrugs, pocketing the garter into his jacket. 

“What?” Jaemin asks dumbly, watching as Jeno remains nonchalant about the whole thing. 

“You said it was a present, right?” Jeno says,  _ his boyfriend  _ says, one hand coming up to cup Jaemin’s face and kiss him. “So now it’s mine.”

And maybe Jaemin’s weak, maybe Jaemin’s head over heels, or maybe Jaemin is in way too deep, but he finds himself nodding to Jeno’s reasoning. 

“Okay,” he sighs happily, kissing Jeno back and running his fingers through his hair. “All yours.”    
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


You see, it’s not that Jeno keeps things a secret, it’s just that he doesn’t speak out about things which aren’t asked about. Why bring unnecessary light to things which didn’t need light, right? 

But now, Jeno thinks that might be biting him in the ass. He feels a bit put on the spot, and it’s even worse because Jaemin is looking at him with those big eyes, with pouty lips, and Jeno doesn’t know how he’s supposed to ignore all of that. 

“Please? My left hand is a bit shaky,” Jaemin says again, holding out a bottle of nail polish. It’s just a simple beige colour, but Jeno still looks at it like it’s the most intimidating thing he’s ever seen. And it might as well have been. 

“You know, I’m not really good at these things baby,” Jeno says apologetically, but it doesn’t work, that much is clear when Jaemin just crowds more into his space and keeps persisting. 

“But sometimes your nails are painted! And they don’t even look bad,” he whines, and Jeno wants to bite his tongue off. This was where everything was biting him in the ass.

Yes, he paints his nails occasionally, but it wasn’t…  _ him  _ who did it. But it seems like Jaemin thought that it had been all this time, an idea which seems to be digging his grave. 

Jeno feels only a little bad as he gets ready to tell Jaemin the truth, but it seems like someone else has a different idea. 

“Jeno doesn’t paint his own nails,” Mark pipes up, and Jeno had almost forgotten that he was there. He comes to grab the bottle out of Jaemin’s hands, and shakes it a bit before telling Jaemin to sit down at his desk. “Donghyuck always paints them for him.”

Jeno only has half the mind to glare at Mark, but most of his attention is taken by Jaemin smiling at him. He’s a bit confused about it, but Jaemin lets him in on his thoughts very soon. 

“That’s so cute,” he gushes, pressing a peck to Jeno’s cheek before sitting down at his desk. Mark is sitting on the desk, and he pulls Jaemin’s hand in his lap as he uncaps the nail polish bottle. “But then why are you painting them?” he asks, this time directed towards Mark. 

“Who do you think taught Donghyuck?” he says smugly, getting started on painting Jaemin’s pinky finger first. 

Donghyuck pretends like he can’t hear what Mark said, though Jaemin doesn’t think he’s pretending at all when he throws a glance over and sees Donghyuck and Renjun both watching a video on Renjun’s phone, in their own world. 

Mark doesn’t take long painting his pinky, and when he’s done he shows Jaemin, looking at him expectantly.

“Should I finish the rest?” he asks.

Jaemin only nods his head enthusiastically. 

“You’re good at this,” he agrees, watching Mark paint the rest of his nails happily, blind to the way Jeno glares at Mark. When he does turn his head slightly and sees it though, Jaemin only rolls his eyes fondly. “Calm down, will you?” 

“I’m perfectly calm as is,” Jeno sniffs, looking away when Mark has the audacity to smirk at him. “Why do you even need to paint your nails anyways?” 

Mark gets off of Jaemin's desk as he asks this, and goes to find the top coat Jaemin has laying around somewhere. Jaemin finally turns to him then, blowing on his hand and admiring the perfect job Mark had done. 

“I wanted to post an Instagram picture,” he explains, letting Mark pull his hand back into his lap once he’s back with the top coat. Jeno will pretend like he doesn't want to bite Mark’s hands off, because realistically, that wasn’t very nice. “To let people know we’re official.”

Jeno hums, but then cocks his head to the side in confusion. 

“What does that have to do with your nails being painted?” 

“Well, I just thought a picture of our hands would be cute,” he explains timidly, and Jeno kind of wants to pinch his cheeks. But Jaemin gets whiny when he does that, so he’ll save it for another time. “That’s cute, isn’t it?” 

It seems like Donghyuck and Renjun are listening in on their conversation again when Jaemin hears them both snort, and he’d hit them if his nails weren’t in the process of drying. And he’d kick Mark for stifling his laughter if Mark didn’t just paint his nails. 

“Yeah, it’s cute,” Jeno assures, and then glares at the other three when he thinks Jaemin isn’t looking. “You do that Nana.”

“You two are horrid,” Donghyuck groans as he finally sits up from laying down on Jaemin's bed, Renjun following right after. “And it’s only been a week. I don’t know if I can do this, I might have to find new friends,” he says dramatically, to which Jeno and Jaemin both roll their eyes. 

“By all means, I’m not stopping you,” Jeno snarks, and Jaemin watches as the two of them fall into an argument so naturally that you’d think it was their second nature. In all honesty, Jaemin wouldn't be surprised if it was.

Thankfully though, he doesn’t spend that much time thinking about it when Renjun comes to join him at his desk, looking down at his nails when Jaemin shows him how pretty they look. 

“It will match the costume you picked out for Halloween too,” Renjun points out, and this seems to effectively grab Jeno’s attention again, putting his argument with Donghyuck to a stop. 

“What costume? You have something picked out?” he asks, now turning all of his attention to them. 

“Yeah,” Jaemin nods, spinning around in his chair as Renjun goes back into conversation with Donghyuck and Mark. “It’s a butterfly costume,” he says, grabbing Jeno’s hand carefully, as to not mess up his nail polish, and brings Jeno to his closet. 

Jeno opens the closet for him, and Jaemin pushes aside some clothes with his elbows until Jeno sees the articles of clothing he has for the costume hanging on a hanger. 

“Look at it,” Jaemin encourages, and Jeno does just that, pulling the hanger out. 

Jeno looks over the outfit, and feels his stomach twist. 

It’s a sparkly blue long sleeve body bodysuit, with a matching blue and sparkly skirt. Jaemin also has a black and blue pair of small wings which clip onto the back of the bodysuit, and when Jeno looks down, his eyes catch on the shoes Jaemin moves over to show him. 

They’re black sparkly heels. 

When Jeno doesn’t say anything for a few seconds, Jaemin grins and snatches the outfit back to hang the hanger up carefully. 

“I think he likes it,” Donghyuck teases, and Jeno is back to glaring at him like he didn’t stop. “It is cute though Jaemin,” he smiles, and Jaemin smiles back. 

“Thanks,” he says, shuffling his shoes back into the closet and closing it. “What’re you going to dress up as?”

“Jeno doesn’t dress up,” Donghyuck says before Jeno can answer himself, to which Mark snorts. They share a look before turning back to Jaemin. “He takes his shirt off to go to a party and calls it a day.” 

Renjun laughs at that, and Mark joins in, while Jaemin tries to push away the revelation that multiple people have seen Jeno shirtless before. And since it was at parties, probably sweaty too.

“Well you’re definitely keeping your shirt on this time,” Jaemin grumbles. 

“Really?” Jeno asks, and much to Jaemin’s surprise, he sounds a bit disappointed. “Because Greek Gods are like trending right now, and it’s such a simple costume,” he explains, but Jaemin stopped listening as soon as Jeno had let the words ‘Greek God’ slip from his mouth. 

He can already picture it, Jeno in nothing but a white wrap, and gold jewellery accenting his body.

Well… it  _ would  _ be a shame if Jeno didn’t get to dress up… 

  
  
  


Jaemin only asks Jeno to take their Instagram picture after Mark, Renjun, and Donghyuck have left, and after they’ve eaten dinner together. 

“Pinkies Jeno,” Jaemin instructs, twisting Jeno’s fingers and positioning them the way he wants. “That’ll look cute, your hands are a bit too big for anything else to look aesthetically pleasing,” he rambles, and Jeno lightly kicks his shin. 

“It’s not my fault your hands are just that small,” he grumbles, but Jaemin doesn’t pay it any mind as he finally links their pinkies the way he wants them. 

Jeno doesn’t really understand the point of this, because he’d rather post one of the many pictures he has of Jaemin caught off guard, with a simple caption which lets people know they’re together. But alas, that’s not what Jaemin wants to do, so Jeno won’t make him. 

That doesn’t mean his hand doesn’t start to cramp though, especially when Jaemin spends more time than Jeno thought possible on adjusting the lighting and finding the perfect angle. It makes Jeno wonder if Jaemin does this with every picture he takes. 

"There!” Jaemin finally exclaims, letting go of Jeno’s hand, and wiping his palm against his pants hastily. Jeno realizes that his hand is sweaty too, after that. “This one is perfect,” he sighs contently, and Jeno takes it as his cue to finally fall back onto the mattress, exhausted. 

He flexes his hand a few times to get rid of the cramps, and groans when Jaemin shimmies himself under his arm, showing him the picture on his phone. Jeno thinks he might actually lose it, not being able to tell who’s hand is who’s anymore, or if he had to look at their hands together for a second longer.

“Isn’t it cute Jen?” Jaemin asks, and he sounds too proud of himself for Jeno to say anything about how his eyes hurt from looking at their hands. 

“It’s very cute Jaem,” he hums, but then proceeds to toss Jaemin’s phone away and onto the other end of the bed. “But was all of that necessary? A simple tweet would have sufficed.

Jaemin shakes his head, looking at Jeno as if the answer was right in front of his face. 

“No Jeno, people need to know you’re  _ off the market _ ,” he emphasizes, tangling their legs together, and Jeno feels himself start to get drowsy. “Because some people suck and they’d still think they have a shot with you.”

Jeno hums again, pressing a reassuring kiss to Jaemin’s cheek. 

“Well, I’m the one who should be worried about people thinking they have a chance with you,” he counters. “You have no idea how difficult it is dating campus’ most desired.”

Jeno can feel the heat radiate off of Jaemin’s face at that, and he smirks to himself internally, smug and satisfied. 

“Shut up, you’re just saying that,” Jaemin mumbles, very clearly embarrassed. 

“No I’m not,” Jeno says back, pulling him just a little bit closer so that Jaemin knows he means what he says. “Everyone wants you, and I’m so lucky you’re mine.”

Jeno thinks he hears Jaemin scoff at that, but it's a quiet sound and he’s halfway to dreamland already. All he feels instead is Jaemin throwing an arm around his waist, and tucking his head underneath his chin. 

“I’m lucky too,” he says quietly, and it comes out a bit muffled from Jeno s chest, but Jeno strains his ears to listen since he doesn’t want to miss what he’ll say. “Everyone likes you, just because you post thirst traps. I feel like I already told you to tone it down with those.”

“You might’ve,” Jeno agrees, and then uses one hand to pat the back of Jaemin’s head, and wraps both arms around Jaemin. “Let’s sleep now.”

“But—”

“No buts, shut your eyes and go to sleep,” Jeno grumbles, using his feet to catch the blanket, and then pulling it over both of them. “G’night baby.”

Jeno feels Jaemin relax more into his hold after that, and hears him sigh contently before he also mumbles back,

“Night, Jeno.”

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


The only reason Jeno is getting ready with Jaemin is because he needs help putting his costume on. And because Jaemin has a lot more jewellery than he does. And because Jaemin said he wanted to do a bit of Jeno’s makeup.

All in all, Jeno just wasn’t able to say no. And he’s glad he didn’t, when he sees how cute Jaemin looks sitting at his vanity, humming under his breath and doing his makeup. 

Jaemin isn't fully dressed in his costume yet, he only styled his hair, and put on the body suit. He’s still wearing sweatpants and his feet are covered in green fuzzy socks, but there’s still an hour or so until the party starts, so it’s alright. 

Jaemin gives himself one last glance in the mirror before clapping his hands, self satisfied. He finishes just with spritzes of setting spray (Jeno doesn’t really know what it does, he just knows that Jaemin puts it on everyday), and then turns to Jeno.

“Come here babe, I wanna try something on you,” he says, beckoning Jeno to come over. 

And he does, because just like many other times, Jeno is simply weak when it comes to Jaemin asking him to do something. 

“You sit down,” Jaemin says, getting up from the bench himself. Jeno takes a seat, and watches Jaemin look through his drawers full of makeup for something. 

If Jeno’s being honest, he didn’t know why someone would need so many makeup items, but Jaemin had once explained that different colours come in handy all the time, so he just let it go after that. 

“I’m just gonna do your eyes, okay? You can tell me if you don’t like it, I won’t be upset or anything,” he assures, but Jeno only rolls his eyes.

“Of course I’ll love it,” he says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. And it kinda is. 

“Yeah, yeah, shut up,” Jaemin grumbles, shaking a tube of…  _ something _ in his hands. “This is just eyeliner, alright?” 

Jeno hums, and when Jaemin bends over, with his face extremely close to Jeno’s, the latter finds it a bit hard to breathe, but also doesn’t think that this is the most comfortable position for Jaemin to do his makeup in.

Which is why it’s easy for him to wrap an arm around his waist and pull him into his lap, relishing in the little squeak of surprise he lets out. 

Jaemin was so, so  _ cute.  _

“Isn’t this easier?” Jeno asks when Jaemin freezes for a few seconds, and he internally smirks when all Jaemin does is nod slowly. “Alright. I’m ready.”

Jaemin clears his throat once before steadying his hands again, a look of concentration washing over his face as he gently brings the tip of the eyeliner brush to the corner of Jeno’s eyes, and out of his peripheral, Jeno can see that it’s white eyeliner. 

The liquid feels cool against his skin, but it’s not irritating. Jaemin was careful with the way he works too, so Jeno just lets him do whatever he wants. 

It’s only when Jaemin runs the eyeliner through his waterline that Jeno has to blink profusely, and all this does is earn him a giggle from Jaemin, who kisses his cheeks in apology.

“Sorry, should’ve warned you about that,” he mumbles, finally capping the eyeliner and putting it away. “This part won’t be as bad, I promise.”

And it really isn’t, not when Jaemin only outlines all the work he’s done in white with a gold eyeliner, something which sparkles just a bit and makes Jeno look hotter than he should. He guesses it’s his fault though, he was the one who wanted to do Jeno’s makeup. 

“You look so good,” Jaemin pouts as he finally puts the gold eyeliner away, leaning just a bit further away from Jeno’s face now. “No fair, you look good in anything.” 

Jeno only chuckles, and pecks Jaemin’s lips gently (since he knows he’ll get reprimanded for ruining his lipgloss), and then throws a look over to where he’s dropped his white… cover up? He’s not too sure what to call it, it’s just one, long continuous piece of fabric. 

“Will you help me get dressed now?” he asks, and Jaemin nods, standing up from Jeno’s lap and making his way over to the fabric. 

“You’ll need a few safety pins, but other than that it'll be fairly easy,” he says to himself, walking back over to the vanity and opening a box of safety pins. “Alright, stand up. Do you know what you’re wearing underneath?” 

“Underneath?” Jeno asks confusedly, pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it onto Jaemin’s bed, and ignoring the way Jaemin’s cheeks flush as the sight of his bare chest. 

“Well, are you just gonna be naked underneath a tarp that someone can take off very easily if they wanted?” Jaemin questions back, raising an eyebrow, and Jeno when he has the audacity to look sheepish. 

“I was just gonna keep on underwear,” he admits, shrugging his shoulders as it wasn’t that big of a deal. 

But apparently it was to Jaemin, who marches over to his closet and fishes around for something before pulling out a pair of white biker shorts. Just by looking at them, Jeno thinks they’ll end at the middle of his thighs. 

“I’ve seen you wear those,” he blurts out, catching the clothing item when Jaemin throws it at him. “You wear these under your skirts sometimes.” 

“Yes I do, because sometimes people put their eyes where the sun doesn’t shine,” he grumbles, motioning for Jeno to put on the shorts. “Go on, then I’ll finish you up.”

As Jeno takes off his jeans and steps into the shorts, which hug his thighs like a second skin, he can’t help but feel a bit angry at the people who do look at where the sun doesn’t shine, especially because Jaemin was probably talking from experience. 

But he could address that another day, because as soon as the shorts are sitting around his hips, Jaemin pulls him closer and starts laying the fabric along his body, starting by tucking a bunch into his waistbands. 

Jeno doesn’t understand what he’s doing, and it looks complicated, so he lets Jaemin do his thing. He pins the fabric together in some spots with the safety pins, and when he’s done, Jeno has the fabric over one shoulder, and then the rest loosely covers the rest of his body as the hem ends just a bit above his knees. 

“Okay, is this alright? I can change it a little if you’d like,” Jaemin asks as he leads Jeno to the mirror, where he looks at himself and is impressed with Jaemin’s handiwork. 

“No, this is perfect,” he assures, kissing Jaemin’s forehead affectionately. “Thank you, baby.”

Jaemin only hums as he goes to put on the rest of his costume, and Jeno uses this time to go through Jaemin’s jewellery to find something to wear. 

He settles on a few chunky golden rings on each hand, and then a smaller chain around his neck. It’s not as big as the ones he usually wears, but it matches his costume well. He also puts in a gold dangling earring in the one piercing he has, and gives himself a satisfied nod when he looks into the mirror for the final time. 

And the next time he turns over to look at Jaemin, the latter looks like he’s having trouble clipping his wings onto the back of his bodysuit. 

Jeno catches his eye in the mirror, and Jaemin pouts.

“Help me?” he asks, and realistically, how could Jeno say no?

So he makes his way over and clips Jaemin’s wings on properly, letting his eyes roam down Jaemin’s body in the reflection of the mirror when he’s done. 

He has his skirt on now, and it ends just a little shorter than the ones he casually wears. His makeup really does pair well with his costume, and when Jeno looks close enough, he can see Jaemin’s legs dusted in body glitter. 

“You look so beautiful,” Jeno mutters, finally looking back up to meet Jaemin’s eyes in the mirror. “Seriously, you’re so sparkly.”

Jaemin grins, satisfied with Jeno’s reaction, and then he makes his way to his closet. 

“I might be taller than you with these heels, by the way,” Jaemin says smugly, and it makes Jeno scoff. 

But at the mention of the heels, he does remember something, and quickly makes his way to where he had tossed his jacket when they first arrived, fishing through the pockets to find something. 

“You wish,” Jeno says, only to turn around and see that Jaemin is, in fact, now the same height as Jeno. Jaemin looks stupidly victorious as he smiles, and it makes Jeno roll his eyes. “Oh, shut up.”

Jaemin giggles, and Jeno feels like it’s a giggle that he’d let get away with anything. 

How dangerous.

“I have something for you,” he announces, putting a hand on Jaemin’s shoulder and making him sit down on his bed. “You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to, but I saw it and I thought of you, so I bought it.” 

Curious, Jaemin cocks his head to the side as he watches Jeno get down on his knees in front of him, and brings his hands out to show Jaemin a… 

_ A garter _ . 

A black lacy garter with a butterfly right in the middle. 

Jaemin’s mouth falls open at the sight of what might’ve been the prettiest garter he’s ever seen, and he thinks his jaw is on the floor when Jeno props up his left leg and starts sliding the garter on. 

“Do you like it?” he asks nervously once it’s sitting around his upper thigh, just below where his skirt ends. 

“Like it?” Jaemin repeats, finally tearing his eyes off of the fabric and up to Jeno, who he has no doubt can see how pink his cheeks are. “I  _ love  _ it. You bought it for me?” 

Jeno relaxes at Jaemin’s words, and he stands back up on his feet as he helps Jaemin onto his too, nodding his head. 

“Yeah, it reminded me of your costume, so I thought… why not, y’know?” 

Jaemin kisses him after hearing his explanation, not a care in the world about what happens to his lipgloss. 

“Thank you,” he whispers against Jeno’s lips, pecking them twice more for good measure. “I love it.”

Jeno grins. 

“I’m glad.” 

  
  
  


The party is in full gear when Jaemin and Jeno arrive, hand in hand and trying to locate where the rest of their friends are. 

The music is too loud to try and talk to each other just yet, so Jaemin settles on scouring the area with his new little height advantage instead. 

It doesn’t take long after that to find Renjun, Donghyuck, and Mark all gathered by the stairs leading to the basement, all with their own cups of  _ something  _ in their hands. 

“Jaemin!” Renjun cheers, the first one to see them. “Hey— you look  _ so  _ good!” he exclaims, and Jaemin doesn’t know if it’s out of genuine excitement or if it’s because he had to be loud to be heard over the music. Either way, he appreciates it. 

“Thank you, you look cute too,” he grins, subtly eyeing Donghyuck’s costume as well. They’re dressed up as Tom & Jerry, and Jaemin finds it unnervingly fitting. 

And then, he turns to Mark, who looks terribly sloshed, and is learning on Jeno. Jaemin thinks he might fall flat on his face if Jeno were to move even a step away.

“Um…” he starts, looking back at Donghyuck. “What’s up with him? He’s already on orbit,” Jaemin comments, and Donghyuck snorts, but it doesn’t sound as amused as his usual snorts.

“Mark got asked to come to this party by some soccer player,” he sighs, sending Mark a sympathetic look before his eyes darken and he scoffs. “Only to get here and find that dude basically fucking another girl against the wall,” he spits, and even Jaemin feels a bit of anger bubble inside of him.

“What?” Jeno exclaims, looking at Mark concernedly after hearing the story, but it doesn’t do much. Mark already looks like he doesn’t really know what’s happening around them, and Jaemin feels bad. “That’s so douchy, what the fuck.”

Jaemin nods his head in agreement, and it’s then that Mark catches his eye. 

“Oh, Jaemin,” he grins, looking up and down to gage at his costume. He squints his eyes as he does, and Jaemin thinks it’s because it’s a little hard to see things clearly with the strobe lights above them. “You picked the skirt I chose.” 

“Mark chose your  _ what _ ?” 

Jeno turns to look at Jaemin really fast, and the result is Mark almost falling onto his face, like Jaemin had predicted. 

“Jeno!” Renjun gasps, catching Mark before he can break his nose or something. “Be  _ careful _ , he’s fragile,” he tsks, and Jaemin has to bite back a snort. 

“ _ Mark  _ picked your skirt? I told you to come to  _ me  _ about those things,” Jeno asks again, sounding whiny as he complains. But Jaemin can tell he kind of means it too, so all he does is wrap an arm around Jeno’s waist and kiss his cheek.

“But I wanted it to be a surprise for you,” Jaemin says sweetly, looking at Jeno with the pouty eyes he knows the latter can’t resist. “I wanted to be pretty for you,” he adds on, quieter. 

And he gets his desired reaction when Jeno only pulls him closer to his side. 

“You’re dangerous,” he settles on saying, eyeing Jaemin’s skirt for a second before shaking his head. “So dangerous. You’re illegal.” 

“I know,” Jaemin hums happily. “Wanna get some drinks?” 

“Leaving already?” Donghyuck asks, looking between the two of them skeptically. “Actually, I’m not surprised. Rumour has it people heard weird noises from that seminar room the day you two were there.” 

Jaemin flushes red, and Jeno only flips Donghyuck off before dragging them both to the kitchen. Jaemin knew the risks of… doing  _ things _ in public, but it’s different when you’re actually close to getting caught. 

“Oh my God,” Jaemin mumbles. “Do you think anyone knows it was us?” 

Jeno only shrugs, and he looks way too nonchalant about the whole thing. Jaemin knew Jeno was shameless, but  _ this  _ shameless?  _ Really _ ? 

“Who cares,” he says, grabbing a cup and eyeing the many half empty bottles lined up on the counter. “People better know you’re mine. What do you want to drink?”

“There are plenty of other ways to let people know,” Jaemin says briskly, just a bit more flustered than he wanted to be at Jeno’s words. “Anything’s fine.” 

Jeno pours them both drinks, and they spend the next forty minutes or so in the kitchen, critiquing everyone else’s Halloween costumes as they pass by.

“That one’s so overdone,” Jaemin comments, nudging his head in the direction of another boy. “I’ve seen at  _ least  _ three in the past five minutes.”

“You’d look good in it though,” Jeno says, and Jaemin simply elbows him. Jeno can’t seem to go more than a few sentences without complimenting Jaemin, and his heart doesn’t fare well with it. “I’m serious! The bunny ears, the tail— okay, okay! No bunny ears, no tail…” he grumbles, finally relenting when Jaemin pinches his ear. 

“That’s what I thought,” Jaemin huffs, bringing his cup up to his mouth to take a sip, only to find it empty. “I’m gonna get another drink.”

Jeno hums, and lets Jaemin slip out of his arms, watching as he makes his way over to where all the drinks are. Jeno would go with him, but he can still see Jaemin from here, and Jaemin didn’t need someone to keep an eye on him all the time. 

And it all runs smoothly for all of a minute, before Jeno glances over and sees someone leaning too close to Jaemin for his liking. 

Jeno walks way over with his face set into a hard expression, wondering if Jaemin really did now understand what he meant when he said that it was hard having the prettiest boyfriend. Or maybe he should just blame all the gross people in the world, instead of how pretty Jaemin is. Yeah, that does sound better. 

When Jeno is only a foot away, he hears Jaemin scoff and say,

“I have a boyfriend,” he says, and Jeno feels pride bubble up in his chest momentarily, before it disappears when he sees the stranger look at Jaemin cockily. 

“I don’t see him,” the stranger says, and Jeno’s blood boils beneath his skin. 

Sometimes, some men have nothing but the audacity. This was a great example. 

“Do you see him now?” Jeno asks loudly as he comes up next to Jaemin, raising an eyebrow as he waits for an answer. “Because he’s waiting for you to either leave or say some more shit that’ll get you your ass beat.” 

The stranger only stares Jeno down, and it’s very clear in his eyes, even under the lights, that he looks a little intimidated. But he also doesn’t look like he’s going to go away anytime soon, and it makes Jeno rolls his eyes. 

So he makes sure the stranger is looking as he slips his hand under Jaemin’s skirt, squeezing his thigh and paying no mind to the way Jaemin’s eyes shoot up at him. 

“Let’s go,” Jeno says in a low voice, dipping his finger into the lace of the garter and snapping back against his skin, and smirks when he sees the stranger’s eyes dip down there for a dangerous second. And when Jaemin jumps a bit. 

They both make their way out of the kitchen then, and into the hallway which leads into the living room instead. 

“You know,” Jeno starts once they’re leaned up against the wall, in a corner of the hallway, where it’s relatively dark, and where nowhere really looks. “I understand why the biker shorts are important.”

“Yeah,” Jaemin nods, but he sounds a little choked up, and it makes Jeno’s eyebrows furrow. 

“What?” Jeno asks, looking at Jaemin up and down, in case he missed something. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” he says, brushing it off and taking a careful step to the side when Jeno puts a hand on his shoulder. “Seriously, it’s—”

Jeno is worried now, and he takes a step closer to Jaemin, but when he sees Jaemin’s thighs rub together under his skirt as he does, he raises an eyebrow. 

Jaemin looks like a deer caught in headlights when he notices that Jeno has seen what he did. Even more so when Jeno crowds him up against the wall. 

“What’re you thinking about?” Jeno asks, and the only reason Jaemin can hear him is because their faces are so close together. “What just happened?” he adds with a chuckle, and the ridiculousness of the scenario makes Jaemin’s cheeks tinge to the darkest shade of red he thinks possible. He’s glad the coloured lights prevent Jeno from making it out clearly. 

“Nothing happened,” Jaemin insists, albeit weakly, and he lets Jeno’s breath ghost over his lips either way. “You just can’t— do  _ that  _ in front of everybody.”

“Do what?” Jeno asks, kissing Jaemin’s cheeks slowly, moving down to his jaw after. “This?”

Jeno iterates his question by sliding a hand up Jaemin’s skirt like he did not even ten minutes ago, but this time he squeezes harder, and hears the breath Jaemin lets out. 

“Oh, you liked it,” Jeno notes quietly, humming and sucking a bruise just below Jaemin’s jaw, somewhere that wasn’t difficult to see. “Did you like it when someone was watching?”

“Yeah,” Jaemin admits in an equally soft voice, and Jeno is surprised that he actually does. But he likes it either way, finding the truth in Jaemin’s words hot, and can feel his own body start to light up with arousal. “I like it.”

“So should I take you right here then?” Jeno whispers, acutely aware of how people are walking past them with every passing second. They’re tucked away in the shadows though, and Jeno wonders just how many people can actually see them. “Is that what you want? Because I’ll give you what you want.”

“Really?” Jaemin mumbles, his own hands coming out to pull Jeno closer by the hips. He leans in and kisses him, feels Jeno’s one hand tighten on his waist, while the other tightens on his thigh. 

“Yeah,” Jeno hums against his lips, kissing him harder now and pushing a leg between Jaemin’s legs. “Because you’re mine, and I’m the only one who can give you what you want.” 

There aren’t really any words spoken after that, because Jaemin is only focusing on the tongue Jeno has licking around inside his mouth, and loses himself in that sensation, along with the vibrations of the wall behind him, from how loud the music is. 

Jaemin only remembers Jeno’s question when the latter’s thigh brushes against his arousal, and a moan escapes his lips before he can even process it happening. 

“This,” he says breathlessly, breaking their kiss and throwing his head back against the wall, panting. “I want this. Just like this, please.”

Jeno’s eyes are dark as he takes in Jaemin’s request, and he doesn’t say anything except flex his thigh, and look down to admire the way Jaemin’s hips move, since he can’t see much more with Jaemin’s skirt covering things. 

Every time Jeno sees someone walk by in his peripheral vision, Jaemin’s hips move faster, and his moans get more frequent. Jeno thinks he sees them too, and especially when Jaemin tightens his hold on Jeno’s hips and pulls him practically flush against him when someone’s voice rings loud in their ears, right next to them. 

“Fuck, you’re getting off on it,” Jeno comments, and though he already knew it, seeing Jaemin fall apart against him because of the situation they were in made him dizzy with lust and arousal. “You like it when people can hear you— when people can see you,” he says, and all Jaemin does is nod. 

“I want people to see,” he admits, and Jeno doesn’t know if Jaemin is trying to kill him or not, with his words. “I want people to know you’re mine,” he moans loudly, moving his hips faster, and Jeno feels his mouth water. 

“Sweetheart, don’t get so excited,” Jeno soothes, sliding one of his hands down from Jaemin’s waist to his hip, guiding him gently and making the friction tantalizingly slow, driving Jaemin insane. “I wanna see you fall apart.” 

Jaemin whimpers, and his nails dig into where they’re still holding onto Jeno, but he finds he doesn’t mind. The blissed out look on Jaemin’s face is distracting him anyways.

“Please make me come,” he whines, and Jeno would swallow the sound down with a kiss if the music wasn’t obnoxiously loud, making it so that no one could probably hear them either way.

Jeno obides the request though, and lets his leg drop just a little as he reaches under Jaemin’s skirt and into his underwear, stroking up and down his flushed cock. 

“Wait,” Jaemin breathes out, his own shaky fingers fiddling with finding their way under his costume. It’s relatively easy, and soon Jaemin’s fingers wrap around Jeno’s length, stroking up and down in sync with Jeno’s hand. “Together,” he pants, leaning in and kissing Jeno again. 

It’s messier this time, more moans and grunts being exchanged between them than kisses, but it makes Jaemin’s head spin either way, makes his brow sweat and makes his knees feel like rubber. 

“Do you hear that?” Jeno whispers into his ear, breathing heavily and making Jaemin squeeze his eyes shut. “Do you hear everyone?” 

Jaemin registers then that there are indeed people laughing nearby them, and they sound so close, that Jaemin can vaguely try to make out what they’re saying. But he doesn’t focus his attention on that, and instead decides to focus it onto the way Jeno is making him feel: hot and bothered. 

“Fuck, Jen, I’m so close,” he warns, and his legs almost do give out, one of his heels slipping against the floor, but Jeno’s other hand is still on his waist, and he holds him upright against the wall. “Please kiss me, kiss me please—”

So Jeno does, and groans right into Jaemin’s mouth when his orgasm washes over him, making him squeeze around Jaemin’s cock and bring him near the edge too. 

“Mm, Jeno!” he moans, accidentally biting onto Jeno’s bottom lip  _ hard,  _ to the point where if Jeno didn’t know any better, he’d think his lip was bleeding. 

Jeno knows Jaemin has come when his hands feel sticky, and he doesn’t think Jaemin’s hand is any better. 

“Did we really just…” Jaemin whispers, looking into Jeno’s eyes from under his eyelashes, and it makes Jeno want to take this somewhere else. Realistically though, he knows they can’t. And that Jaemin would kill him for ruining his costume. Well, ruin it even more than they already did. “Come in our pants?”

“Yeah,” Jeno chuckles, running his tongue over his lip where Jaemin had bitten, soothing it over. “Like highschoolers all over again.”

Jaemin hufss out a laugh this time, finally taking his hand out of Jeno’s pants and wiping it onto the wall behind him. 

“You’re disgusting,” Jeno gasps, but he takes his hand out and does the same anyway. 

“ _ You’re  _ disgusting,” Jaemin counters, but he kisses Jeno softly right after, and licks into his mouth with care, running over where he had bitten. “Now you have to carry me to the bathroom.”

“And why do I have to do that?” Jeno asks, as he lifts Jaemin up bridal style, just a bit surprised by how light he was. 

“Because I don’t trust myself to walk in these shoes right now,” he reasons, kissing Jeno’s cheek sweetly. 

Jeno is sure there’s no more lip gloss on Jaemin’s lips anymore. 

“If you can’t walk after that, you’re gonna be a mess when I  _ actually  _ get my hands on you, princess.”

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


Jaemin doesn’t necessarily know when it started, but he thinks it was last week, when Jeno had come over to study for a bit, but then started doing something else halfway through. 

It was quiet, they were comfortable, and Jeno was helping Jaemin with understanding his reading by reading it all out loud. And it was going fine, until Jeno said he had to go the bathroom, only to come back to Jaemin with his arms raised above his head, and no explanation. 

“Um…” Jaemin starts, looking confused when Jeno still doesn’t say anything, doesn’t even move. He just remains kneeled on the bed in front of where Jaemin is sitting, looking at him expectantly. “Rollercoaster?” he tries, raising his arms and mimicking Jeno’s pose. 

When Jeno doesn’t show any reaction, Jaemin has a feeling he’s guessed wrong. But he doesn’t even know  _ how  _ to guess right, or what to guess. 

And it isn’t helping when Jeno doesn’t seem to be giving any hints, just smiling at him. 

Jaemin furrows his eyebrows, thinking he has it figured out as he gets on his knees too, and shuffles a bit closer to Jeno. Then, he wraps his arms around Jeno’s middle, giving him a hug. 

But Jeno doesn’t do anything, and he still doesn’t say anything, so Jaemin huffs and hugs him tighter, hoping he’s right this time. 

All he gets in return though, is Jeno chuckling, and then pressing a kiss to his forehead. Other than that though, Jeno stays in the same position, and Jaemin knows he’s guessed incorrectly, once again. 

“What is it?” he whines, flipping back down and sitting on his haunches, looking up at Jeno apprehensively, as if the answer was written on his face. But it wasn’t. “Am I supposed to know what to do?” 

Once more, Jeno doesn’t answer him. 

Jaemin, just a bit frustrated, huffs again and abruptly gets up, wiggling his fingers along Jeno’s ribs and tickling him aggressively. 

Much to his surprise though, Jeno doesn’t let his arms fall, though he does squirm and giggle, trying to, and failing to, escape Jaemin’s torturous tickling. 

“Just tell me,” he whines, fingers relentless as he refuses to back down, not until Jeno tells him what he’s expecting. 

But Jeno is stubborn, and Jaemin is learning just  _ how  _ stubborn as he watches how he holds his ground. Jaemin briefly wonders if his arms ache, but then doesn’t sympathize since Jeno didn’t  _ have  _ to do this. 

He was just making things hard for himself. And for Jaemin. Why was he being so difficult?

Jaemin finally does rip his hands away, sitting back down and crossing his arms over his chest as he takes in Jeno’s challenging look.

Oh, so now he wanted to get  _ cocky _ , did he? Well, Jaemin doesn’t like that look on his face one bit. 

“Do you want a kiss?” he asks, kneeling once more and pecking Jeno’s lips. 

Only to see that he doesn’t move at all when he pulls back, just grins cheekily. 

“I hate you,” he huffs, irritatedly poking a finger to the middle of Jeno’s chest. When the latter doesn’t waver, Jaemin groans and tackles him into his back, and their bodies bounce a little on the bed before Jaemin finally feels Jeno’s arms come down and around him.

“You’re so cute,” Jeno chuckles, repeatedly kissing Jaemin’s forehead and trying to get him to stop grumbling profanities under his breath. 

“What is wrong with you? What did you want?” he asks again, propping his chin up on Jeno’s sternum, looking up at him with his eyebrows raised. “Because that was very unnecessary.”

“I wanted you to take my hoodie off,” Jeno answers finally, raking his fingers through Jaemin’s hair. “I was very patient, if I do say so myself.”

“You could’ve just  _ said  _ so,” Jaemin grumbles, but Jeno only shrugs cheekily, looking to the right and throwing a glance over to Jaemin’s desk. 

“I was filming,” he admits, and Jaemin follows his eyes and sees Jeno’s desk propped up on his desk, something he hadn’t noticed before. His head whips back to Jeno quickly, just to see him already looking at him. “It’s for a TikTok.”

“So you couldn’t have just told me?” Jaemin asks, incredulously, once more. 

“No, that’s the point of a challenge, sweetheart,” Jeno hums, patting his head. “It was to see if you’d take my hoodie off.”

Jaemin scowls.

And once again,

“I hate you.” 

  
  
  


Jaemin decides to take his revenge on Jeno the next time they’re alone together, which is two days later. 

He wants this to work, so he played quiet the whole day and was passive whenever Jeno asked him a question. 

Jaemin wanted this to work, and Jeno was going to pay for being infuriating. Whether he liked it or not. Which he probably wouldn’t, who even likes being reprimanded—

Anyways, that wasn’t the point. 

The point was that Jeno was currently in his shower, and Jaemin was laying on his bed, putting a plan together in his head. 

He’ll sulk, he’ll pout, and he’ll make his eyes water in the way he knows has Jeno bending over backwards for him. 

So that’s exactly why he sets his face into a small frown, pulls the sleeves of his hoodie over his hands, till they cover his fingertips, and makes sure to slouch as he sits up. 

Oh, and makes sure that his phone is hidden away, and recording at a good angle. 

Jeno’s video had done really well, since he had posted it the same night he filmed it, and a lot of comments were asking them to do more challenges. 

While Jaemin wanted to film this just to get back at Jeno, it was a bonus if it’s also what people wanted to see. 

When Jaemin hears Jeno come out of the bathroom, he morphs his face into a frown again and looks down as he picks his cuticles, keeping his ears open to track Jeno’s movement. 

Jeno doesn’t say anything as he patters around, pulling his clothes on and lazily drying his hair. The ends are still wet, Jaemin always tells him to dry his hair properly, but he never listens.

Jaemin doesn’t know if Jeno is waiting for him to say something first, or if he’s trying to think of something to say first. Either way, he slowly gets out of bed, internally smirking at how he’s drowning in the fabric of his hoodie. 

It adds to the vibe he’s going for.

Jaemin shuffles over to where Jeno is standing by his vanity, looking into the mirror and brushing his hair out of his eyes. It doesn’t work well  _ because his ends are still wet,  _ but Jaemin puts it in the back of his mind to scold him for it. For now, he musters up the tiniest voice he can, and looks up at Jeno with the biggest eyes he can muster as he says,

“Babe, I really need a hug right now.”

Jeno’s reaction is immediate, much like Jaemin had expected, and his arms come around Jaemin’s body not even a second later. 

“Hey,” he whispers softly into his hair, and Jeno runs his hands up and down Jaemin’s back for extra measure. For Jaemin’s extra measure, he nuzzles his face into Jeno’s neck. “What’s wrong, hm? You’ve been a bit quiet all day.”

“I just need a hug,” Jaemin mumbles back, tightening his hug and pressing their bodies even closer together. He sniffles for dramatic effect, and suppresses his smirk when Jeno kisses his head and shushes him.

“Are you okay? You can talk to me baby,” Jeno assures, and he starts rocking them right after, and Jaemin almost forgets he’s supposed to be faking this whole thing. 

It’s hard, when Jeno comforts him like a second nature. It just feels so right to be in Jeno’s arms. Jaemin kind of thinks that there will never be a place as comfortable as this. 

Jaemin mumbles something purposefully incomprehensible, because he himself doesn’t know what to say to that. 

“Are you hungry? Do you want takeout?” Jeno asks next, squeezing Jaemin tighter again, and he kind of just wants to melt into his hold and forget about this whole thing. 

But Jeno had offered food, and Jaemin would be a fool to decline. 

“Sushi?” he asks, and when Jeno nods, Jaemin feels victorious. “Jeno?”

“Hm?” Jeno hums, stroking through his hair now. It makes Jaemin feel sleepy, but telling Jeno that he’d just been played makes him feel more awake. 

“I’m filming this for a TikTok,”

Jeno freezes momentarily against him, before stepping back and checking Jaemin’s face for any tears or anything. But all he sees is Jaemin smiling back at him, any traces of sadness nonexistent. 

“You—” he starts, looking baffled, still stuck in place as he watches Jaemin pull Jeno’s wallet out from the jacket he laid along the back of Jaemin’s desk chair. 

“Sushi?” he asks politely, looking at up Jeno expectantly, and even if Jeno had just been played like a violin, he sighs and grabs his wallet, taking his card out, and pulls up the delivery app on his phone. 

“You’re a menace,” he grumbles, rolling his eyes when Jaemin simply kisses his cheek, laying his head on his shoulder as he looks through the video he just filmed. 

“I’m your favourite,” he counters smugly, and when Jeno doesn’t disagree, Jaemin beams on the inside.    
  


Jeno strikes next a week later, and this time he doesn’t bother hiding his phone as he films. 

Instead, he keeps it out in the open, and makes Jaemin sit on a chair in front of it. 

Which throws him off a little, and then a lot when he sees Jeno move so that he’s positioned behind the camera, and out of frame. 

“What’re you doing?” Jaemin asks tentatively, looking apprehensive as Jeno claps his hands in front of him.

“I just wanna record your reaction for a dance I learned,” he says innocently enough, but Jaemin isn’t convinced. He never really is when it comes to Jeno. 

“Okay…” Jaemin nods slowly, still looking confused. He throws a glance at the phone, that’s already recording as it films him using the front camera, and then he throws a glance at Jeno. “Why can’t you be in frame when you show me?”

Jaemin thinks he sees Jeno smirk at his question, but it’s gone before he can think about it more. 

Instead, Jeno just waves his hand passively, and he watches as Jeno takes Jaemin’s phone to play the music. 

He’s not too sure what dance this is supposed to be, but he could just be backlogged on trends. Or maybe this isn’t even related to anything trending at all, but Jaemin highly doubts that. 

“Okay, ready?” Jeno asks, and the music plays through the room. It’s just a rap song that Jaemin is unfamiliar with, but he nods his head anyways.

“As ready as you are.”

Jeno waits only a few more seconds after that for the part he’s waiting for, and Jaemin listens, and learns that it’s the chorus. When that part of the song starts, Jeno starts moving.

Jaemin thought it’d be hard to watch, because he and Jeno were alone and he thought it’d be awkward, but Jeno moves so…  _ smoothly _ , and so…  _ sensually _ , that all it does is make Jaemin’s cheeks tinge a dark shade of red. 

Jeno’s hips move in sync with the beat of the song, and when he rolls his body he looks directly at Jaemin. 

The music isn’t slow, but it isn’t too upbeat either. And the way Jeno dances to it, despite wanting to make fun of him for it, all Jaemin can see is how Jeno thrusts his hips at one particular part. 

And he thinks it’s over after about thirty seconds, he doesn’t think there’s more, but Jaemin almost chokes on air when Jeno continues to move, running his hand down the center front of his body. 

He traces down from his collarbones to his chest, right down his sternum and stopping right over top of where his belt buckle sits. 

Jaemin wants to look away and scream because what he just witnessed was  _ hot _ (for some reason), but his eyes physically can’t tear themselves off of Jeno, and he’s left to watch, blushing furiously, as Jeno smirks at him.

“Did you like it?” he asks perkily, like he hadn’t just danced seductively right in front of him. “It took over an hour to learn.”

Jaemin wishes Jeno didn’t tell him that, because now all that’s on his mind is Jeno sweating as he tries to learn the short dance, and Jeno swivelling his hips like that for over an hour. 

Just the thought of him doing all of that makes his head spin. 

“Yeah it was—” Jaemin tries to talk, but as if his cheeks didn’t embarrass him enough, him choking on his words should really sell it. Jaemin can’t even look Jeno in the eyes as he continues. “It was nice, mhm.”

Jeno walks over to where his phone is recording, and he picks it up and stops the video. Jaemin thinks he’s going to look over it now, but all he does is toss it to the side and come back to where Jaemin is still sitting on the chair, smirking as he leans over Jaemin with a hand on the back of the chair. 

“You liked it?” he asks again, a bit quieter this time, but not fully a whisper. 

When Jaemin nods quickly, Jeno hums. 

“I think you liked it a lot,” Jeno shrugs, and his other hand comes down to Jaemin’s lap, patting over where his bulge has started to show in his sweatpants. “Should I help you with that?”

This time, when Jaemin nods quickly, Jeno grins. 

  
  
  


Jaemin also doesn’t hide it the next time he has something up his sleeve. 

This time, they’re both sitting in Jeno’s car as they wait for their pizza, in an almost empty parking lot past midnight. The heating is on because it’s a bit chilly outside, and Jaemin almost regrets not bringing a jacket. 

There’s soft music playing from the radio, and Jeno is playing a game on his phone, like Jaemin had been. 

Now though, Jaemin opens his camera and props his phone up on Jeno’s dashboard using Jeno’s wallet, making sure they’re both in frame. 

“Oh, we’re still doing this?” Jeno mumbles as he briefly looks up from his phone, seeing the setup Jaemin has.

Jaemin also turns on the lights in the front, and takes his seatbelt off as he tells Jeno to do the same. 

“What are we doing?” he asks again, but Jaemin doesn’t say anything. Instead he turns to look at Jeno completely, and takes his phone out of his hands, and puts it into the cup holders. 

Then he starts the recording on his phone, waiting for a few seconds to pass as he sits back in his seat, and looks at Jeno with a glint in his eyes. 

Jeno would call the glint dangerous if he didn’t like the way it made Jaemin look so bright. He guesses that doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous though. 

“Can I tell you a secret?” Jaemin asks casually, and he’s smiling widely as he does. 

Jeno doesn’t know what he has up his sleeve, but the smile is making him second guess every possibility of what can be happening. It makes Jeno think that things are either going to end up really well, or really poorly for him. But he’s eager to find out either way, so he nods his head and puts his full attention onto Jaemin. 

Jaemin’s smile only grows even more when Jeno nods, and he’s leaning in to whisper in his ear, one of his hands holding onto Jeno’s nape. 

“I wish I could control myself when I’m with you,” he says breathily, purposefully tightening his grip onto the hairs on Jeno’s nape. 

He feels Jeno tense for a moment, but he pays it no mind as he continues to speak. 

“But it’s hard when you look so  _ hot  _ all the time, Jeno,” he whines, and he wonders if the shiver that runs through Jeno’s body is from his hot breath hitting his ear. 

He guesses it must be, because Jeno also puts a hand on his thigh and squeezes, hard.

“I like it when you’re rough with me,” he continues, this time in a whisper though, and deciding to fuck it, since he’s already doing this in the first place, Jaemin takes Jeno’s earlobe between his teeth, nibbling gently as he moans and says, “When you pin me down and make me cry—”

Jaemin gets cut off by Jeno’s hand sliding up his neck, his pointer finger and thumb turning his jaw to face him. Jeno then smashes their lips together, and Jaemin almost forgets what he’s doing when he melts into the kiss. 

“Oh, I’ll make you cry,” Jeno mutters, squeezing his fingers just a little tighter, and this time a real moan slips out from Jaemin’s lips. “You’re asking for it.”

“Mm, I am,” Jaemin agrees, pulling away from the kiss, and then licking his lips right away, all while keeping eye contact with Jeno. “But I think our pizza is done.”

The smug look falls right off of Jeno’s face. 

“What?”

“The pizza. It’s been twenty minutes, it should be done,” Jaemin repeats casually, leaning back and sitting in his seat. As he puts his seatbelt back on, Jeno still hasn’t moved. “Well? I’m hungry,” he pouts, and that seems to snap Jeno out of his reverie. 

“You know, I’m getting real sick of you,” Jeno scoffs, but he grabs his wallet and unlocks his door nonetheless. “See what it’s like when I leave you with blue balls.” 

Jaemin only hums dismissively, and Jeno closes the car door harder than he needs to. 

Jaemin just laughs to himself as he grabs his phone back and looks through what he recorded. 

He realizes he’s going to have to cover the audio with a song when he hears that his voice managed to pick up.

And maybe he blushes wildly when he hears what exactly has left his mouth. 

  
  
  


If Jaemin wanted to play dirty _ ,  _ then Jeno was going to play even dirtier. 

It wouldn’t be that hard to either, he’s always had more of a knack for mischief than Jaemin did, but it’s particularly useful now. 

It’s colder outside these days, the weather making itself loud and prominent as the sun sets earlier, and the nights run cooler. It doesn’t bother Jeno too much, but it puts a damper on Jaemin’s mood since he can’t wear as many skirts or dresses because he doesn’t like how the cold feels on his legs.

He still wears them around at home though, and Jeno is more than delighted to know he didn’t have to wait an entire season, or maybe two, to see Jaemin dress himself up all pretty.

But that wasn’t related at all to what Jeno has up his sleeve. 

Or, in better words, lack of sleeves. 

You see, Jeno is sitting on his bed while Jaemin does his skincare in his bathroom (he’s spending the night here). He’s been in there for a bit over ten minutes, which Jeno appreciates since it gave him time to set up his phone in a position where it would only record Jaemin, and not him.

He’d be in a sticky position if the camera ended up recording him, since Jeno is currently sitting on his bed… fully unclothed. 

Naked.

And he’d be nervous about it if Jaemin hadn't seen him bare countless times before. There’s nothing to be ashamed about when he’s with Jaemin, and as much as he appreciates that every time the thought crosses his mind, today, he uses it to his utmost advantage. 

So he waits patiently as he preens his ears to see if Jaemin will be coming out soon, and he sits up a bit straighter when he hears him putting his things away. 

The door to the bathroom opens right after that, and Jaemin turns off the lights behind him while humming to himself, eyes still looking anywhere but him. 

It’s doesn’t take long though, for Jaemin to finally look up, and immediately catch sight of Jeno, naked, bare,  _ not wearing any clothes _ , while his face looks nonchalant. 

“Ready for bed?” Jeno asks cheekily, and Jaemin almost wants to throw something at him.

But he feels rooted to his spot when he can’t seem to take his eyes off of Jeno’s long neck, his abs which look softer under the light, his thighs which are fully exposed — Jesus Christ — and his,  _ God _ , his cock just sitting there like it was waiting for something. 

But  _ Jeno  _ doesn’t look like he’s waiting for something, so Jaemin doesn’t know what to do. If he should say something, or if he shouldn’t. If he should immediately just get down on his knees, or if things weren’t even going in that direction. If he should look away, but then Jeno wouldn’t even just display himself right here, right? 

“You’re thinking too much,” Jeno chimes after a minute or so passes by with Jaemin staying silent. He gets up too, and Jaemin has half the mind to turn around and hide in the bathroom. 

But instead, he finds himself immobile.

Jeno is still mindful of the camera recording, so he gets within enough range of Jaemin before holding his hands and pulling him closer. 

“Oh my God,” Jaemin immediately gasps, his eyes running around wildly from Jeno’s eyes, to his chest, to his stomach, and to his cock. “Oh my God, we— what are you doing? Go put on clothes, holy shit.” 

Jeno snorts at Jaemin’s reaction, but cocks his head to the side and pretends to think about it. 

“But it’s rather comfortable like this,” he reasons, bending down a little to catch Jaemin’s eyes, which seem to be fixated lower. “Don’t you think?” 

“I think you should change into your pyjamas,” Jaemin says quietly, and he gulps as he looks back up into Jeno’s eyes. “And that we should go to sleep, because you’re going to give me problems if we do something, mister, and I have a class early next morning.” 

Jeno is fine with that, he didn’t really expect to initiate anything in the first place anyway.

He just wanted Jaemin’s reaction, and he got that. 

“That’s good,” Jeno nods, letting go of Jaemin’s hands. “Because my phone is recording and it’d be quite a hassle if it caught everything we would’ve done.”

Jaemin threatens to cut Jeno’s dick off when he hears that, but Jeno is too self satisfied to care.    
  


Jaemin  _ wanted  _ to do something more risqué, since Jeno decided to go all out the last time he wanted to catch Jaemin off guard, but Jaemin just feels too lazy at this point. 

He doesn’t really have a concrete idea for what he wants to do as he scrolls through TikTok on Jeno’s bed, alone since the latter is sitting at his desk and preparing a presentation.

Jaemin also doesn’t want to bother him, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t growing very bored with the silence enveloping the room.

But he doesn’t disturb Jeno just yet, waiting until a full hour has passed since he’s taken a break from staring at his laptop screen. 

Jaemin had long changed into one of Jeno’s hoodies, and slipped on a pair of Jeno’s fuzzy socks. They’re orange and they end at the bottom of his calves, but they’re warm so Jaemin doesn’t mind how ridiculous they look. 

Plus, Jeno is wearing the same socks, just in a purple colour. 

When the clocks strikes an hour since he’s left Jeno alone, Jaemin gets up quietly and tries to make as little noise as possible as he props his phone up somewhere he doesn’t care if Jeno can see. 

He hits record and pads over to Jeno, who seems to immersed into whatever he’s doing to actually notice Jaemin walking over. 

But that’s okay, because he isn’t really trying to say something as he just squeezes himself in the space between where Jeno is sitting and his desk, stepping forward to sit on his lap and rest his head on his shoulder. 

He doesn’t say anything, and Jeno doesn’t for a while either. But only ten seconds pass before the sound of typing comes to a halt, and Jaemin assumes it was Jeno finishing off his sentence. 

“Hey baby,” Jeno murmurs, and Jaemin can tell he’s a bit tired just from the way he sounds. “Got a little bored? I’m sorry, I’ll be done soon,” he assures, and he presses a kiss on Jaemin’s head right after. 

One of Jeno’s hands runs up and down his spine from under the hoodie, and it makes Jaemin sigh out happily, content, comfortable, and warm in Jeno’s lap. 

“That’s okay, take your time,” Jaemin assures, nuzzling his cheek into the fabric of Jeno’s shirt, just liking the smell of the detergent. “I just wanna… cuddle,” he ends up whispering, bringing his own arms to wrap loosely around Jeno’s torso. 

“Hm, I like cuddling,” Jeno chuckles, and Jaemin finds himself smiling too, but his eyes close as well. 

If he didn’t know and better, he’d think he was getting sleepy. 

A few minutes pass by with Jeno typing in the background again, but Jaemin doesn’t know if it’s actually a few minutes, or if it’s an hour or two. 

Either way, he still presses a kiss to the exposed part of Jeno’s neck he can reach from here, and feels more content than he has in a really, really long time. 

“Jen?”

Jeno doesn’t stop typing, but Jaemin doesn’t care. 

“Hm?”

“I love you.” 

The tying does stop now, but Jeno’s movements don’t. Jeno stops typing, but he moves his head to kiss Jaemin’s temple, and squeezes an arm around his waist tightly. 

It’s quiet, and still manages to stay quiet as Jeno goes back to typing. 

“I love you too.” 

Jaemin doesn’t know if he wants to post the video he’s recording or not, finding it too intimate to want to share. 

That’s okay though, there’s still use for it, because he knows he’ll look back on this moment many, many times in the future. 

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


“Jeno, are you here yet?” 

“Almost. Maybe if you’d texted me earlier, I could’ve been there when you were done.” 

Jaemin hears the sass in Jeno’s voice, and he doesn’t appreciate it. So he huffs into the phone speaker, and pouts although he knows Jeno can’t see him. 

“You’re being mean,” he says, because he knows Jeno will always let him have his way when he does. “I was even going to buy you a pizza.”

“Never mind, I take it back, you’re the most perfect boy in the whole world who can never do any wrong.”

Jaemin snorts, and hangs up before Jeno can say anything more when he sees his car pull up through the heavy droplets of water cascading repeatedly onto the window panes. 

Jaemin is about to make a run for it to Jeno’s car, but he stops in confusion when he sees Jeno get out of his car instead, jogging into the library and getting completely soaked in the process. 

“Oh my God,” Jaemin gapes, taking in the dripping Jeno in front of him, soaked from head to toe. “I was perfectly fine making it there myself. And why didn’t you bring an umbrella?” he chastises, but Jeno only grins, and he’s taking out something that he’s had hidden inside his jacket this whole time. 

“I realized I forgot an umbrella, and I don’t want you getting wet. So I’ll hold this over you,” he says proudly, opening up a spare denim jacket and showing Jaemin how much surface area it could cover. “See? Now you won’t get wet!”

Jaemin has half the mind to scold Jeno for potentially getting himself sick, but he can’t when Jeno looks at him like a puppy waiting for praise, very clearly proud of his idea.

“What about you?” he ends up asking, adjusting his bag on his shoulders. 

“What about me? I’m already wet,” he says easily, ushering Jaemin outside without really touching him, not wanting him to get wet. “We’ll make a run for it, okay?” 

“Seriously? Y’know that much rain water won’t—”

But Jaemin doesn’t get to finish, because Jeno opens the door to exit and nudges Jaemin forward with his knees, and now they’re in the heavy downpour, and Jeno’s jacket does nothing to protect him from the rain coming down above his head. 

“I thought it’d work,” Jeno pouts when they’re both standing by his car, and Jaemin can’t help it now when he rolls his eyes. “That’s what they do in the movies.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s not raining this heavily in the movies,” Jaemin shivers, squinting so that he can see past the blur of raindrops. “Can we get inside now? Unlock the door, it’s freezing.”

“Wait,” Jeno says, tossing his now very heavy, and very wet jacket onto the roof of the car, stepping closer to Jaemin and crowding into his space. 

When Jeno’s hands find his waist, Jaemin is about to ask what he’s doing, and why this couldn't wait until they were inside of the car, where the heating would be enough to remove the chill from his bones. But before he can, Jeno lifts him up suddenly, and Jaemin is briefly taken back to the time they had taken pictures in a similar position, before Jeno is bringing him back down, not all the way though, and kissing him. 

Jaemin doesn’t know how Jeno manages to find his lips when his glasses are ruined with raindrops, or how his hands aren’t slipping from the skin on Jaemin’s waist, but all those questions get pushed to the back of his mind when Jeno’s kiss sends warmth through his system. 

Jaemin’s all parts speechless when Jeno looks up at him, and still speechless as Jeno lets him onto the ground gently. 

“I’ve always wanted to do that,” Jaemin admits in a whisper, and somehow, Jeno is able to hear it over the rain pounding against the concrete. “How’d you know?”

“I know everything,” Jeno says smugly, pecking Jaemin’s lips once more before using his keys to unlock the car. “I’m a romanticist.” 

And just like that, Jaemin is reminded of how  _ cold  _ and  _ wet  _ he is. 

“Romanticist my ass,” he grumbles, stepping into the car and tossing his backpack into the back, thanking his previous desire to buy one made out of waterproof material. “You probably just got the both of us sick.”

“Well, that pizza you mentioned earlier should fix that,” Jeno grins once he’s strapped in his seatbelt, and Jaemin just hopes they can get back to Jeno’s soon, since sitting in his wet clothes was absolutely irritating. “And I have hot chocolate at home.”

“Really?” Jaemin asks, immediately perking up. “Do you have the one with—”

“—with marshmallows, mhm, yes I do,” Jeno nods, turning the heating up all the way, to which Jaemin is grateful. 

“Awesome.” 

The drive to Jeno’s dorm is slower than usual, but it’s only because Jeno takes caution as he drives in the slippery mess of the road. The windshield wipers are going back and forth at an alarming pace but seeing the water being wiped away, only to be immediately replaced, is mesmerizing to Jaemin. 

“Hope you don’t mind getting a bit more soaked,” Jeno sighs, parking the car and turning the engine off. He looks out the window, forlornly at the distance between the door and the car. “Run?”

Jaemin grins this time as he takes his backpack back from the back of the car, and as they run in the rain to the building. He’s chilled to the bone by now, and he’s sure Jeno isn’t any better. 

Jaemin feels bad for the cleaning staff as he and Jeno leave puddles of water in their wake, but there’s nothing he can do to stop it. At least when they’ve reached Jeno’s room, that’s when Jeno brings towels out for them.

“You go shower first,” he tells Jaemin, shoving some clothes into his hands as he does so. “I’ll order the pizza.”

“Use my card,” Jaemin says, bringing his wallet out from his bag. He knows that Jeno would’ve ended up paying if he didn’t say anything, and the whole point was that  _ Jaemin  _ wanted to buy them food. “I insist.”

“Well, I’m not gonna say no,” Jeno hums, though Jaemin knows that he would’ve, if Jaemin wasn’t so persistent. 

He leaves Jeno to it though, and is grateful to relax under the warm spray of the shower. Jaemin hopes that his nose clearing up isn’t temporary, since he’d hate to sleep with a stuffy one. 

Jaemin uses Jeno’s shampoo and body wash, liking the way it smells on Jeno more than it smells on him. But it’s alright, because the scent is still addicting, and Jaemin is grateful he has stocked his skin care products in Jeno’s bathroom too, when he gets out. 

He takes only fifteen minutes to complete that part, and then he’s putting on Jeno’s boxer briefs and hoodie, which he just now notices has Jeno’s name embroidered onto the sleeve. It’s cute, and Jaemin doesn’t think he’s gonna give it back. 

When he’s out of the bathroom, Jeno springs up immediately, and Jaemin feels bad for taking his sweet time when he notices the goosebumps on Jeno’s arms. 

“You could’ve just showered with me,” Jaemin tsks guiltily, rubbing his hands up and down Jeno’s arms. “Go, go now. And take your damn time, you’re freezing.”

Jeno only sends him a shaky smile, it’s hard to do anything else with his lips trembling, but heads into the bathroom right away. 

Jaemin busies himself with setting blankets and pillows up on the floor so that they can eat comfortably, mindful of using the spare blankets Jeno has in his room instead of the one already on Jeno’s bed. 

In Jeno’s mini fridge, there are cans of soda and beer, but he takes out the soda instead. Maybe later, they could drink if they were up for it. He’s done setting everything up when there’s a knock on the door, and Jaemin practically skips over, his stomach growling at the prospect of getting to eat soon. 

He’s just about logged into Jeno’s Netflix account on the latter’s laptop (he knows how to, Jeno lets him use his account), when the bathroom door opens and Jeno comes out with an oversized t-shirt and joggers on his frame. 

He tosses his towel across the back of his desk chair to dry, and joins Jaemin on the ground with their backs pressed against his bed.

“I’m starving,” he sighs as he and Jaemin both grab a slice at the same time, and Jaemin opens up the sauce right after. “Thanks, Nana.” 

Jaemin only hums, too busy chewing to speak around his mouthful. 

They watch the documentary Jaemin had queued up as they eat, and before either of them know, everything, down to the crust, is gone. 

“I can’t move,” Jeno groans, slumping back and patting his stomach. “For real. You’re gonna put me in an oven now, aren’t you?”

“Don’t give me ideas,” Jaemin scoffs, tossing their empty soda cans and sauce containers into the pizza box before closing it. He snuggles himself deeper into the blanket and hugs a pillow to his chest before looking at Jeno again. “Now go make that hot chocolate.” 

Jeno doesn’t argue, getting up with only a bit of struggle as he patters over to where he keeps his hot chocolate and tea bags, pulling out two large mugs while he’s at it. 

Jaemin lets him do his thing as he diverts his attention back to the documentary, and he finds that he’s fighting to keep his eyes open, the food coma starting to settle into his body. But the promise of hot chocolate is what keeps him awake, so he forces his eyes to stay open and focus on what’s happening on the screen. 

It pays off though, because Jeno joins him with two mugs soon after, sitting down gently and handing Jaemin his steaming mug. It’s red with little snowflakes decorating the outside, and it makes Jaemin smile.

“Thank you,” he mumbles, taking a slow and tentative sip so as not to burn his tongue and mouth. The sweetness is welcome on his taste buds, and the warmth makes him feel even more comfortable and lethargic. “Mm, tasty.” 

Jeno drinks his hot chocolate too as they sit with their shoulders touching, and Jaemin isn’t sure when, but at one point their legs end up tangled under the blankets, Jaemin’s head on Jeno’s shoulder as his empty mug sits on his other side. 

Jeno is still drinking, and Jaemin hears his every swallow with where his ear is pressed. It sounds funny, but Jaemin doesn’t comment on it. Instead, he watches the ending credits start to roll on the documentary, and he yawns before reaching over to pause it. 

“What do you want to do?” Jaemin asks, ripping his eyes away from the way Jeno’s Adam’s apple moves as he tilts his head back to finish the rest of what's in his mug. 

“Well, you look like you’re ready to call it a night,” Jeno says amusedly. “Like an old lady.” 

Jaemin scowls, straightening his back and no longer leaning onto Jeno to show that he was very much  _ not  _ ready to call it a night. Old lady his ass.

“I am very much twenty years old,” he huffs. 

“Yes, I’d sure hope so,” Jeno hums, and Jaemin is about to ask what that means, but he doesn’t get a chance to before Jeno is standing up and collecting their mugs to put away to wash later. “But we can put on another movie if you’d like? Or if you have any work you need to do you can go ahead.”

Jaemin wracks his brain for a moment before settling on the fact that all of his work can wait until another day, so he shakes his head and cleans up everything on the floor, since they can move back to Jeno’s bed now that they’re done eating. 

He folds Jeno’s blanket and lets Jeno take it from him as he puts it away, and then moves his laptop to the bed and settles against the pillows on the headboard. 

“Let’s watch a movie,” Jaemin settles on saying, and Jeno nods his head in agreement as he gets into bed with Jaemin. “Unless you have work to do?” 

“Nope, no work at all,” Jeno grins, twisting two fingers right under Jaemin’s ribs. The reaction he gets is a squeak and a violent jerk, and it makes Jeno grin wider. “Oh? Ticklish, darling?” 

Jaemin huffs and shakes his head, but Jeno doesn’t buy it, of course he doesn’t, and he starts wiggling his fingers relentlessly along Jaemin’s torso. 

Jaemin is glad Jeno is quick witted enough to put his laptop aside and onto the bedside table before he starts tickling the daylights out of him, and Jaemin thrashes around as he tries to escape the torturous feeling. 

“Is this— is this necessary?” Jaemin gasps between laughs, and he can already feel his stomach cramping. “I’m gonna kill you.”

Jeno only chuckles right into Jaemin’s ear, and while he wants to relish in how heartwarming the sound is, all he’s trying to do is get Jeno’s hands away from his torso. 

Which finally seems to happen when he somehow manages to flip them over, until Jeno is laid flat on his back and Jaemin is sitting on his lap with his full weight to keep him down. For extra measure, Jaemin grabs both of Jeno’s hands and rests them on his stomach. 

“Enough of that,” Jaemin huffs, catching his breath and glaring at the shit eating grin on Jeno’s face. “Oh, you’re so annoying.”

“Aren't I?” he hums, tilting his head to the side and putting one of his hands behind his head, looking up at Jaemin like he was a star. Which he is, it’s such a privilege to have the prettiest boy in his lap. “I like to think I’m simply a bit… refined.”

“Refined,” Jaemin deadpans, waiting for Jeno’s punchline. Except it doesn’t come, and Jaemin rolls his eyes. “Sure.”

Neither of them say anything for a while, but Jaemin watches the way Jeno’s eyes smile at him as he stares at his face. He’d be embarrassed if this was in a different setting, but he’s gotten used to Jeno’s casual shows of affection, and staring is one of them. 

When he does rip his eyes away though, Jaemin notices the extra fabric of Jeno’s t-shirt, and how it dips into the divots of his abs, giving them a faint shape over the cotton. 

Teasingly, with a grin on his face, Jaemin traces the outline of Jeno’s abs over his shirt, mapping out where they are and feeling Jeno’s muscles tense a little underneath his delicate fingertip. 

“A bit responsive today, hm?” Jaemin asks, and the smile Jeno lets out is brilliant and bright. He never really does tend to take teasing too seriously. 

“How can I not be?” he asks, lifting an eyebrow as the hand which isn’t behind his head comes out and strokes up and down one of Jaemin’s bare thighs. “Your ass is sitting on my dick.” 

At the mention, Jaemin is acutely aware of the bulge he's sitting on, having not even paid attention and having dismissed it when he first sat down. Jeno seems to become more aware too, and Jaemin can slowly feel the other grow harder underneath him. 

So he does what he does best, and tries to rile Jeno up. 

He starts slowly, moving his hips back and forth in short movements, keeping his eyes trained on Jeno’s face innocently. 

But when he sees Jeno bite his lip, Jaemin gyrates in circles and tries to get more friction by putting his hands on Jeno’s stomach to balance himself. 

“Looks like you’re having more fun than me,” Jeno comments amusedly, squeezing Jaemin’s thigh when he stops moving. “Tired already?”

“You’re the one who’s dick is hard under me,” he sasses, and Jeno doesn’t deny it. If anything, he looks proud. And Jaemin wants to wipe that proud look off of his face, so he puts his hips to work again, except this time he’s grinding both of their arousal together. 

“Hey,” Jeno whispers after a few moments, and Jaemin is pleased to hear that his voice is a little hoarse. “I know you can get off like this but… do you wanna have sex?” 

Jaemin freezes immediately above Jeno when he registers the question, and his mind blanks for a good ten seconds as he stares at him.

Those ten seconds seem to be enough to alarm Jeno though, because he sits up, and the action forces Jaemin to slide down and sit on his thighs now. 

“Did I say something wrong? It’s okay if you don’t want to—”

“Actually,” Jaemin cuts off, finally looking away and taking a few seconds to collect his thoughts. He clears his throat a little and looks back at Jeno, and the concern as clear as day in his eyes makes him blush violently. “I want to… I wanna have sex with you,” he says honestly, the latter part of his statement taking on a softer tone because of his shyness. 

“Okay,” Jeno nods, equally as quietly, but he still doesn’t move to do or try anything. And Jaemin knows very well it’s because he didn’t address what Jeno asked. “So then why…?”

Jaemin thinks there’s no easy way to do this, so he musters up all his courage, takes a deep breath and opens his mouth to blurt out,

“I’m a virgin!”

A heavy silence settles over the two of them, to the point where if Jaemin wanted, he could hear everything going on outside the window. But he doesn’t want to, because right now he’s just embarrassed, admitting something so… so  _ vulnerable  _ like being a virgin in the way he did. 

He closes his eyes in embarrassment when a few more seconds go by without a word, and Jaemin’s lips dip downwards. 

“Say something,” he whimpers, terribly aware of how rigid Jeno feels against him. 

But it goes away right when Jaemin speaks, and Jeno’s hands are making their way up to cup his face, turning it back to look at him. 

“A virgin?” Jeno whispers, like he didn’t believe it, and Jaemin doesn’t know how to feel about it. “You're—” 

“Why are you saying it like that?” Jaemin asks frantically, cutting Jeno off. “Does it bother you?”

“No!” Jeno immediately denies, wide eyed and shaking his head. “God no, I don’t care about that kind of thing. It’s just— you don’t seem like a virgin?” he says carefully.

Jaemin’s eyebrows furrow, but he does relax back into Jeno’s hold. 

“Don’t seem like one? What’s that supposed to mean?” he asks, his eyes almost going cross eyed when he zeroes in on Jeno’s thumb pulling his lower lip down. 

“Just everything else we’ve done,” Jeno shrugs, and the initial shock seems to have worn off. “You’re a bit daring for a virgin, aren't you?”

Jaemin blushes at that, all of Jeno’s inhibitions having been thrown out the window as he lets the pad of his thumb rest on Jaemin’s plush bottom lip. 

It only takes one look into Jeno’s eyes for Jaemin to understand, and he slowly lets his lips close around the tip of the digit, sucking softly. 

“Hm, just like that,” Jeno whispers, grinning and relishing in the flush which seems to spread to Jaemin’s neck and disappear below the neckline of the hoodie he's wearing. “But are you sure you want your first time to be with… me?”

Jaemin makes a confused sound, letting go of Jeno’s thumb with a small  _ pop  _ sound. 

“Of course,” he says, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Because I love you.” 

All of the worry previously clouding Jeno’s eyes seems to wisp away at his confession, and his eyes soften when they meet Jaemin’s again. 

“I love you too,” he mutters, bringing their lips together in a short and sweet peck. “Do you wanna lay down for me while I get some things ready, princess?” 

“Okay,” Jaemin nods, shuffling off of Jeno and letting him kiss his forehead before he gets off of the bed to rummage through his bedside drawers. 

In the meantime, Jaemin lays down with his head on Jeno’s pillows, and this time it’s different from all the other times he’s laid down in this bed. This time, he feels like his limbs look awkward, and he tries to move into a position which makes him look more… appealing. 

But since he can’t see himself, he doesn’t know what he’s doing, and he might just be making himself look stupid. 

Jaemin huffs as he just lays his arms by his side, and rests his legs straight right next to each other. 

When Jeno comes back, he chokes on the laugh when he sees Jaemin’s position, and even more so when Jaemin looks at him, like he doesn’t know what’s so funny. It shouldn’t be as cute as it is, but Jeno can’t help but be terribly endeared. 

“What are you doing?” he asks as he crawls onto the bed, tossing the bottle of lube and the condom he had brought over somewhere on the bed for later. “You gotta relax, doll,” he coaxes, a hand going from one of Jaemin’s thighs to the other as he spreads them open a bit. “You trust me, don’t you?”

Jaemin nods his head vigorously at that, and the smile he sees on Jeno’s face is soft. 

“I do,” he assures, blinking up at Jeno when he looks over him. It’s not something he hasn’t done before, but this time it just feels more intimate. Maybe because it  _ was  _ going to be more intimate. 

“Then take a deep breath,” Jeno says, leaning down until their lips were just barely touching. “And tell me to stop if you don’t like something. You can do that, can’t you baby?” 

“Yeah,” Jaemin whispers, nodding his head slowly, jutting his head out just a little bit, eager for Jeno’s lips on his. “I can do that.” 

“Good boy,” Jeno whispers back, and then they’re kissing, and Jaemin’s gut swirls at the praise. 

Jeno kisses him softly, like it was their first time locking lips, like they haven’t kissed millions of times over. But Jaemin thinks it’s sweet, and like this, he can savour the taste of Jeno’s lips and the feel of his tongue when it finally brushes over the seam of Jaemin’s lips. 

A soft moan wedges itself out of his throat when Jeno tangles their tongues together in a slow dance, and the only reason Jaemin calls it that is because he doesn’t have another word to describe how  _ gentle  _ Jeno is with everything. 

Their lips disconnect with a wet pop and a string of saliva connecting them when they part for air, and Jaemin is panting, trying to catch his breath, while Jeno dips down immediately and kisses down his jaw. 

Jaemin doesn’t bother containing his sighs of pleasure, because he knows very well that Jeno likes those. But he does feel a bit embarrassed about how quick he’s becoming needy as his back arches when Jeno kisses over the sensitive part of his neck. 

“Can I take this off?” Jeno asks, barely comprehensible from how his lips refuse to leave Jaemin’s skin, but the latter still makes it out and nods his head. But when Jeno doesn’t do that anything, Jaemin can grasp that he’s waiting for verbal confirmation. 

“Yeah,” he breathes out, sucking in a sharp breath right after as Jeno takes a part of his skin between his lips, sucking blood to the surface and no doubt trying to leave a mark. “Please take it off.” 

So Jeno does, but only a few seconds later and when he’s satisfied with his hickey on Jaemin’s skin. Jeno pulls his hoodie over Jaemin’s head, and throws it onto the floor carelessly to deal with later. For now, he immediately goes back down and kisses all of the newly exposed skin, stopping in some spots to leave more hickeys, or to graze his teeth along teasingly. 

When Jeno reaches his chest, Jaemin almost yelps as he feels Jeno’s wet tongue circle his nipples, sucking on the buds and rolling them underneath his tongue, one at a time. 

It makes him squirm and it has his breathing picking up. He tries to regulate himself by grabbing onto something, and the closest thing he can reach is Jeno’s hair. Jeno doesn’t seem to mind though, only grunting when Jaemin grasps at his strands. 

“Mm,” Jaemin whines, tugging a little harsher when Jeno presses his body closer to Jaemin’s body, his built stomach coming into contact with Jaemin over his briefs, the last article of clothing on his body. “Take it off too,” he says, moving his hands down to pull at the fabric of Jeno’s t-shirt. 

Jeno sits up with one last kiss to the middle of Jaemin’s chest, pulling his t-shirt over his head and throwing it to the side like he did Jaemin’s hoodie. The action ruffles his grown out blond hair a bit, but Jaemin thinks it just makes him look cuter. 

This time when Jeno comes down, Jaemin cups his face before he can do anything else and kisses him, still soft, but just a bit more desperate. He’s already hard, and if he’d have to take a wild guess, so is Jeno. 

“Don’t make me wait,” Jaemin says against his lips, and Jeno just raises an eyebrow. “I’ve waited twenty years— are you really gonna make me wait longer?” 

“I’ll make it good for you,” Jeno chuckles, kissing Jaemin’s jaw once more. He trails kisses up to his ear, where he sucks on his earlobe lightly before whispering, “I’ll make it worth the wait.” 

Jaemin hums at that, the rasp of Jeno’s voice right into his ear, and the warm hands which slide down his sides extremely pleasurable. 

Jeno then moves back a bit to untie the drawstrings on his joggers, pulling them down his legs along with his boxers, and he’s left bare when he looks back at Jaemin. 

He’s more appreciative of the sight than he is flustered, since despite everything, Jaemin has seen Jeno’s naked body many times before. The only difference now, is that there’s an implication in their air. 

“I’m gonna take these off now, okay sweetheart?” Jeno says, running his finger along the waistband of his briefs, looking into Jaemin’s eyes for confirmation. 

“Okay,” Jaemin nods, lifting his hips up a little so that it was easier for Jeno. “Yeah.” 

And he’s not even that embarrassed when he’s left bare in front of Jeno either, he’s seen it all already, and so has Jeno. It’s only when Jeno grabs the discarded lube and wets his fingers, and brings them between Jaemin’s legs, that he blushes down to his chest.

They’ve done this before, once again, but the new intimacy, paired with how Jeno’s touch feels like feathers on his skin, makes the butterflies rage way too wildy in his stomach. 

“I’ll start now,” Jeno lets him know, catching his eyes and only looking back down when Jaemin nods and mumbles an ‘okay.’ 

Jeno pushes his first finger in with relative and practiced ease. Jaemin doesn’t tense up anymore, now used to the intrusion from Jeno. Instead, he focuses on enjoying the feeling, and how good Jeno makes him feel. 

“You take me so well,” Jeno hums, pressing kisses onto the skin of his thighs, and it makes breathing even harder than it already was for Jaemin. “You’re so perfect, darling, I love you so much.”

Jaemin’s heart feels like it could explode in his chest when he hears Jeno’s sweet words, but before he can say anything, a moan rips out of his throat as Jeno adds in another lubed finger, scissoring them both like he knows Jaemin likes. 

“I—I love you too,” Jaemin hiccups, throwing his head against the pillows when the pads of Jeno’s fingers brush over his prostate, only to purposefully stay away from that spot right after. “Jeno, please,” he whines, letting his hips move on their own accord, chasing the addictive pleasure. 

“One more,” he says into the skin of his thigh, and his breath tickles, but he’s distracted from that sensation when Jeno pushes in a third lubed finger, moving them slowly at first, getting Jaemin used to the feeling. Not like he hasn’t fingered him with three fingers before, but just not in a while. “There you go princess, just like that.” 

Jaemin’s breathing picks up and his legs shake just the tiniest bit, the pit in his belly growing with each passing second. He’s almost about to ask again, he wouldn’t even put it past himself to beg, but Jeno is pulling his fingers out, very slowly, before he can. 

“Be a doll and roll the condom on for me?” Jeno asks, nudging his head towards where the foil sits. “I’m in a bit of a sticky situation.”

Jeno grins, but Jaemin doesn’t even have the energy to make fun of him, brain too heady with pleasure, and his cock aching for relief. 

So he reaches out towards the foil with shaky fingers, and then carefully tears the packet open and rolls it onto Jeno’s flushed and hard length. When he’s done, a whimper tumbles out of his throat, and he looks up at Jeno with a fire burning in his eyes, something the latter immediately understands. 

“Thank you, baby,” Jeno murmurs, bending down and kissing Jaemin’s lips softly again. He lays Jaemin back down against the pillows, and grabs an unoccupied one to fit under his hips. “We’ll take it slow, alright?”

Jaemin nods his head, his bangs falling into his eyes as he does so. Jeno brushes them away immediately with his undirtied hand, and squeezes more lube onto his palm to slick his cock with. The sounds already have Jaemin panting, and he doesn’t think he’s wanted anything more in his entire life. 

“Jeno,” he whispers when Jeno fits himself between his legs, pressing his tip against Jaemin’s rim, just to sit there and get him used to the pressure. “Don’t be so far away.”

Jeno smiles fondly at Jaemin’s words, and doesn’t waste a second more as he leans over Jaemin’s body, kissing his forehead and all the way down to his cheeks, dotting kisses across the bridge of his nose and finally ending with a peck on the lips. 

“You’re terribly cute,” he mutters, smiling more when one of Jaemin’s hands runs down his arm until their hands meet. Jaemin takes it upon himself to lace them together. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah, I’m ready,” Jaemin confirms, keeping eye contact with Jeno as the latter gently prods the tip of his cock to Jaemin’s hole, letting him suck his length in, bit by bit. 

It’s slower than Jaemin expected, but he finds he appreciates the pause between each inch Jeno slides into him, a little breath to collect himself and relax more to let the rest of Jeno into his hole. 

Only when he’s fully seated in, does Jaemin realize how tightly he’s gripping onto Jeno’s hand, and his harshly Jeno is breathing atop of him. 

“Okay?” Jeno asks, and it takes Jaemin a few seconds to collect enough breath to answer. 

“It hurts a little,” he answers honestly, because he knows that for the both of them, he has to. 

“Then we’ll wait a bit. Tell me when you want me to move,” Jeno assures, leaning down and again to kiss him, and Jaemin finds that it helps, melting into Jeno’s lips.

Jeno’s hand also travels down to jerk his cock, and he finds that that helps  _ a lot,  _ his muscles relaxing and becoming less tense, which eases the pain he felt into pleasure which makes his veins buzz. 

“You can move now,” Jaemin whines as he breaks their kiss, but Jeno still doesn’t, and Jaemin answers again before Jeno can even ask his question. “Yes I’m sure now please— please?” 

Jeno nods, and he kisses Jaemin one more time before pulling his hips back slowly, and pushing them back slowly, but with force. 

And it knocks all the air out of Jaemin’s lungs. 

He repeats the same movements until Jaemin is restless beneath him, until every moan that leaves him mouth turns into one that’s nighter pitched and needy. 

“You feel so good, Nana,” Jeno groans, and the sound gets sent straight south for Jaemin, who whimpers when Jeno’s cock brushes along his prostate. “My good little boy.”

Jaemin finds himself nodding to that statement, mainly just because he likes the way it makes him feel when it’s Jeno saying those words. 

“Faster please,” Jaemin moans, the hand of his which isn’t holding onto Jeno’s running down the plane of the other’s chest. “Please you— you feel so good.”

Jeno obliges easily, moving his hips in and out at a quicker pace and not paying mine to the loud sound of their skin slapping against the other’s. 

Jeno makes Jaemin feel good, that much was obvious, but right now Jeno makes Jaemin feel like he’s going to lose his mind. He’s more aroused than he’s ever. been in his whole life, and the growing knot in his belly doesn’t do anything to put him off edge. If anything, it’s only getting tighter and tighter every time Jeno hits his prostate and moans right into his ear. 

“Jen,” he calls in a high pitched whine, his other hand scrambling to find purchase on the nape of Jeno’s neck, keeping him impossibly close. “I wanna come, please make me come.”

Jeno only groans at his words, but his hips do work faster, and his other hand goes down to stroke up and down Jaemin’s cock in time with his thrusts. 

When Jeno looks at Jaemin’s face again and after a bruise right under his ear, there’s tears in his eyes and he’s hiccuping from all the pleasure running through his body, overwhelmed while trying to process all these new sensations. 

“I love you Jaemin,” Jeno mutters, quickening when he sees Jaemin’s face scrunch up in pleasure, something he always does when he’s close. “Now let go for me, princess. Come for me.”

And Jaemin does, he comes harder than he has in his whole life. His orgasm rips sobs from his throat, so loud he’d be concerned people would hear him if he cared more. But he doesn’t, and all he can focus on is how Jeno fucking him through the aftershocks, and his thighs shake with every movement. 

Just when the overstimulation is starting to become too much, Jeno stills and moans gutturally, coming into the condom and dropping his forehead onto Jaemin’s shoulder. 

“Jeno,” Jaemin whispers, and Jeno leans off of him a bit, humming to show he was listening. “I love you.”

Jeno just grins lazily, pecking his lips with no finesse before pulling out gently. 

“Love you too. Stay here, I’m gonna clean you up,” he says, standing up from the bed and walking to his bathroom. 

Jaemin tries to move his limbs as he waits, stretching his arms first and then flexing his fingers, which had been holding Jeno’s the entire time. Then he bends his legs at his knees, but when he tries to spread his legs a bit, he yells as a sharp pain runs up his spine. 

He’s heard of this, but it still makes him grumble. 

Jeno comes back only a few seconds later with a warm and wet washcloth, running it over Jaemin’s body to wipe off the sweat and lube. 

Once he’s cleaned up to the best of Jeno’s abilities, Jeno doesn’t slip into bed right away, saying he’ll grab some clothes to sleep in before bustling around in his closet. 

Jaemin watches him, starting to feel just a little cold, and when Jeno steps into a pair of boxers and a new, clean t-shirt, Jaemin giggles. 

“What is it?” Jeno asks as he comes back with Jaemin’s clothes; another pair of boxers and a crewneck. “What’s so funny, hm?” 

Jeno helps Jaemin get dressed by sliding the boxers up his legs slowly, mindful when he reaches his hips and back, and also helping him put the crewneck on. 

“Nothing’s funny,” Jaemin answers, smiling up at Jeno, and if Jeno looked closely enough, he knows he could see stars glimmering in there somewhere. “That just felt so  _ good _ . So amazing. You’re so good to me,” he says, looping his arms around Jeno’s neck and bringing him down next to him already. 

Jeno only smiles, kissing Jaemin’s cheek.

“I’m glad you liked it. Satisfactory?”

Jaemin hums.

“ _ Beyond _ satisfactory.” 

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


Winter time comes out of nowhere, November bleeding into December in the blink of an eye, and the thin sheets of ice covering the concrete makes driving an extremely risky affair. 

But driving isn’t the only thing that manages to give Jeno a heart attack, because Jaemin is extremely notorious for not warning Jeno about what he’s about to walk into. 

Which is why he’s more than startled, practically alarmed, when Jaemin opens the door after he knocked, with his lights glowing red behind him and his outfit— 

“What the  _ hell  _ are you wearing?” Jeno shrieks, looking over his shoulder hurriedly to make sure no one sees Jaemin in his outfit, ushering them both inside rapidly when the coast is clear. “Give a man a warning, holy shit.”

“Isn’t it cute?” Jaemin asks, seeming to not notice Jeno’s turmoil and simply twirling around to show Jeno his whole getup. “I ordered it a few weeks ago and completely forgot about it until it came this morning.”

Jeno still hasn’t said anything, but Jaemin doesn’t seem to make anything of his silence, as he simply goes back onto his bed and arranges himself prettily, and that’s when Jeno notices the camera setup he has going on.

It also explains why Jaemin’s pillow cases are now green, and why his lights are on red. 

“I’d ask you to be in a few photos, but you don’t match. Do you mind taking some for me though?” Jaemin asks, and Jeno is taken out of his stupid as his eyes properly roam down Jaemin’s body to see what he’s wearing. 

His hair isn’t anything out of the ordinary, fluffy and pink and laying over his forehead, but below his head is where things make Jeno’s breath catch. 

Jaemin is wearing a red dress (can it even qualify to be a dress? It’s shorter than some of Jeno’s t-shirts), which ends just below the tops of his thighs, a sparkly fabric covered in sequins and with a black belt in the middle around his waist. 

His legs are wrapped in white fishnets, but those only peak out at the top, above his lacy white thigh highs which run down both legs. 

Jaemin’s dressed as Santa baby. 

“Is this even supposed to be on Instagram?” Jeno chokes out, having a hard time prying his eyes away from Jaemin’s legs. 

“Of course,” Jaemin grins, and he still seems blind to Jeno’s inner turmoil. “It’s Christmas soon anyways. Take the pictures!”

And so Jeno does, and it feels more intimate than it should since he knows that some of these pictures will make it out onto the internet for everyone to see. Nonetheless, he still wills himself to keep it together for Jaemin, because he’d hate to upset him by not being able to complete a task as easy as taking pictures. 

It’s over soon though, to Jeno’s relief, because now he can catch Jaemin in a kiss without having to worry about ruining his look for the photos. 

“I knew you’d like it,” Jaemin giggles when they pull apart, and Jeno’s lips tingle a bit from the other’s lipgloss. “Which part do you like the most? The dress or the stockings?” 

Jaemin asks like he’s merely excited and curious, but Jeno knows him well enough to be able to spot the way his eyes sparkle in that dangerous way, the way that makes Jeno’s blood boil sometimes. 

“All of it,” Jeno admits easily, licking his lips as his eyes rake down the outfit again. He pushes Jaemin down against the pillows until he’s able to tower over him on his knees, and he trails a finger up to his lips before tracing his cupid’s bow. “Do you need to take more pictures?”

When Jaemin only shakes his head, Jeno doesn’t hold back any longer. 

With the hastiness of both of their movements, Jeno’s hand slips under the skirt of Jaemin’s dress right away, and he freezes with what his fingers come into contact with. 

Because as much as he’s smug about it, and as much as he knows what Jaemin’s underwear feels like by now… this isn’t it. 

“Do you like them?” Jaemin asks after a while, his chest rising and falling as he attempts to catch his breath, and when his hips move a little, which in turn shifts the position of Jeno’s fingers, he understands what Jaemin is asking. 

Because this is more lacy than Jaemin’s usual underwear, and the hem ends lower and too much of his thighs are exposed, and the shape is way too different— 

“Everything else would show under the dress,” he explains without Jeno even needing to ask, he’s sure it shows how dumbstruck he is on his face and by his movements. “They’re red, if you’re wondering.”

Jeno wasn’t really wondering, but now he can’t help but want to ravish Jaemin.

  
  


After a lot of persuasion asking Jaemin to keep on his fishnets, and many potential noise complaints later, Jaemin slumps himself onto Jeno, utterly spent. 

“I didn’t ask you to come over so we could fuck,” he mutters, still trying to catch his breath. He lays his head in Jeno’s chest as he does, feeling the rise and fall of it as he breathes. He also hears his pounding heartbeat, and it makes him want to stay like this for hours. 

“I didn’t think you’d be wearing panties when I came over,” Jeno counters, and while Jaemin blushes a bit at his bluntness while neither of them were in the mood, he tangles their legs together anyways. “But what did you want to do, hm? Dinner? I can take you on a date.”

“A date sounds nice,” Jaemin hums, but he doesn’t make a move to get up. That is, until he remembers something. “Wait, not yet!” he exclaims, sitting up abruptly and not even sparing a glance at how Jeno winces, his dick still sensitive after Jaemin destroyed it. 

“What're you doing?” Jeno frowns, watching as Jaemin grabs his phone, and he’s suddenly reminded that they’re both very much naked. “Also, let’s clean up first—”

“No,” Jaemin shakes his head, grabbing Jeno’s shoulders and hauling him up into a sitting position before he himself manoeuvres himself to that his back is pressed against Jeno’s chest. “Make a TikTok with me.”

“Like this?” Jeno shrieks, motioning towards their very bare chests and also very bare… everything, really. The comforter isn’t even covering them anymore with all the moving Jaemin had done. 

“Yes, like this,” Jaemin says, holding his phone out and positioning to the way he wants, with them both in frame. “The whole point is to film it after you…”

“What? Have sex?” Jeno finishes bluntly, and even in the red lighting, he can tell Jaemin is blushing by how hot his ears get. 

“Yes, now shut up. Turn to the left and then we’ll look at the camera when the music starts, alright?” 

Jeno relents, because once again, there isn’t much Jaemin could ask that Jeno wouldn’t do, so he sighs and turns his head to the left instead of answering verbally. 

“Thank you babe,” Jaemin says anyways, pressing a quick kiss to his shoulder before also turning his head to the left, and it makes Jeno smile. 

Jeno does as Jaemin says when he hears the music, and he sees that Jaemin does the same. When he looks onto the screen, he sees that there’s already some of the video filmed, and that the bling effect is on, and Jeno wonders just what kind of video this is for. 

“What did we just film?” Jeno asks when Jaemin hides the screen from him, and he’s immediately suspicious and curious. “And why are you hiding it. It better not the illegal Jaemin—”

“Just watch it,” he giggles, tossing his phone onto the side of the bed, and Jeno looks at skeptically while he retrieves his own phone. 

Jaemin is still watching him expectedly when he opens his phone and goes into the TikTok app, searching Jaemin’s account into the search bar, clicking on his account, and going to the most recent video, posted a minute ago. 

It starts with Jaemin smiling at the camera, and Jaemin can tell that by what he’s wearing, this part was filmed a while ago. The bling effect is still on though, and along with the jewellery he’s wearing, even Jaemin’s eyes sparkle. It transitions into the part that they had just filmed, and while the lights above their heads sparkle, nothing else does, unlike last time.

Jeno is confused until his eyes over to the caption, reading,

_ pre and post virgin w jeno😙 _

“What the fuck?” Jeno yelps, his neck burning, and he’s glad Jaemin can’t see. “What’s that even supposed to mean?” 

“Your eyes are supposed to sparkle if you’re a virgin,” Jaemin explains, already crawling over to Jeno again, landing on his lap unceremoniously as the latter stays frozen in shock. “I wanted to try it out.”

“You’re insane,” Jeno scoffs, tossing his phone away too because he’s too nervous to look at the comments. “And incredibly shameless.”

“Yes I am,” Jaemin nods, pecking Jeno’s cheek before grinning. “But you love me.”

And all Jeno can do is sigh defeatedly at that, because he does love Jaemin terribly. 

“Yes I do, and you love me, so can we shower now? We’re both gross.”

So Jaemin pulls them up and leads them to the bathroom with towels in his hands, and they spend more time fooling around under the water then they do actually showering. 

But it’s alright, because Jaemin looks cute with shampoo in his hair, and Jeno thinks that Jaemin has really good smelling soap. 

“Hey,” he starts when they’re both getting dressed, the lights no longer red, having taken on a purple hue instead. Jaemin is easier to see now, and his hair especially looks like candy in this light. 

He looks pretty. 

“What is it?” Jaemin asks back from in front of his mirror, brushing his hair into the way he wants it to dry. Jeno promised to take them on a date when their hair had dried, since it was too cold to go outside with wet hair. 

“I was thinking…” he continues, dropping his towel along the back of Jaemin’s desk chair to dry, since he’s always seen Jaemin do that too. “What do you normally do for winter break?” 

Jaemin doesn’t answer immediately, but his movements do slow down. 

When a few more moments go by, Jeno decides to just bite the bullet and blurt out,

“Do you wanna come home with me?”

This time, Jaemin drops his hairbrush completely, his movements not only slowed down but completely frozen. 

“I can’t,” Jaemin whispers when a few more seconds pass by, picking up his hairbrush and turning to face Jeno. To his credit, he does look very pained to say this. “Not— not now, Jen.” 

“Oh,” he says plainly, not too sure how to answer. He doesn’t want Jaemin to feel bad, but he’s also confused because Jaemin’s excuse just didn’t make sense. “Um… do you need to be home this year?” 

This time, Jaemin sighs and he grabs Jeno’s hand, pulling them both towards his bed so they can sit down. 

“Listen, there’s something I didn’t tell you,” Jaemin says straightforwardly, wincing a little at his wording when he sees Jeno flinch. “It’s nothing— it’s nothing  _ bad,  _ I hope, just… listen first, okay?” 

Jeno nods, feeling his heart sink to the bottom of his stomach as Jaemin takes a deep breath and fiddles with Jeno’s fingers. He doesn’t know what to expect, but he trusts Jaemin enough to know that if he had waited this long to talk about, then he couldn’t have talked about it before. 

“I always spend holidays and breaks at Renjun’s,” he starts off. “With his family, at his house. Sometimes if they’re going somewhere, they take me with them because they say I’m like family.” When Jaemin says his part, his lips quirk up in a smile, and Jeno hopes what he’s about to say won’t be too bad. 

“I don’t think I’ve been home for the holidays since senior year of high school… because I got um… kicked out? Is that the right world?” Jaemin chuckles, but Jeno doesn’t know what part of this is so funny. 

He wouldn’t have pegged Jaemin to be the reckless type who had pissed his parents off to the point where he’d been kicked out, but he also doesn’t think that’s what happened. 

Because Jaemin isn’t that type of person. 

“I was doing laundry once when they were out of the house, so I could wash my skirts and dresses and… prettier clothes, y’know?” he explains, and Jeno, sensing where this was headed, shuffled closer and wraps an arm around Jaemin’s shoulders for comfort, if he needed it. 

But Jaemin was strong, because he didn’t really waver as he spoke. If anything, it just looks like he’s trying hard to remember exactly what happened. 

“Anyways, my mom found a skirt in the dryer, I just didn’t realize I left one behind. She asked if it belonged to my girlfriend or something— which was weird, she knew I was gay. Either way though, I came clean about it, that it was my skirt and that I had more. I think it was in spite that I told her I even had a few dresses and fishnets. Should’ve seen the look on her face when I told her I even had more makeup than she did,” Jaemin snorts, but Jeno isn’t finding anything amusing. 

If anything, Jeno is the one who looks more pained right now, listening to everything Jaemin is recounting. Just  _ thinking  _ about Jaemin having to go through something like that, being shamed for what liked, was sickening. 

“She told my dad and well… I packed things up that same night. Went straight to Renjun’s, and have been going back there ever since.” 

Jeno doesn’t say anything at first, but Jaemin gives him a while. He’s only taken aback when he hears Jeno sniff. 

“What?” he asks, concerned when Jeno brings up a hand to wipe away at his own tears. “What’s wrong, Jen?” 

“That’s not fair,” Jeno says quietly, because he doesn’t think he can speak louder without his voice cracking. “They didn’t even try— they didn’t—”

“It’s okay,” Jaemin soothes, and Jeno feels guilty, can’t help but think that the roles should be reversed. Jaemin had just told Jeno about his parents practically disowning him, and here he is, the one crying over it. “I’m over it now anyways. They don’t accept me, so I shouldn’t waste my time on them.”

Jeno doesn’t know how Jaemin is strong enough to come to that conclusion, they were his parents for some time, after all. Or maybe he’s making this a bigger deal than it needs to be, he doesn’t know. 

“That’s not fair,” he ends up repeating, wrapping his arms around Jaemin’s waist and burying his head into Jaemin’s shoulder. “Jaemin…” 

“Jeno, it’s okay now,” he assures, stroking through Jeno’s hair gently, running his other hand up and down his back. “Renjun’s family loves me, my friends love me,  _ you  _ love me. Everything is okay, baby, I’m happier now. I promise you.”

Jeno calms down just a little when he hears that Jaemin is happier now, as he  _ should _ be, seeing as he could be himself now without tiptoeing around hoping not to get caught. 

“I love you Jaemin,” Jeno mumbles into his shoulder, squeezing his arms around him just for extra measure. “And I’m sorry you had to go through that. You don’t wanna come home with me because you don’t want to meet my parents yet, do you?” 

Jaemin at least looks sheepish when Jeno pulls away to clean his face, and Jeno, despite himself, feels a little pang in his heart. 

Somehow, Jaemin manages to catch onto that. 

“I’m sure they’re lovely people,” he says, tapping Jeno’s nose and smiling brilliantly. “They couldn’t have raised you if they weren’t. But just… give me a little more time, okay? Me and… parents don’t have the best track record.”

Jaemin tries to sound nonchalant, but Jeno can tell he’s genuinely nervous. 

So all he does is nod, and kisses Jaemin’s cheek because he doubts Jaemin wants to taste all the saltiness from Jeno’s tears if he tries to really kiss him. 

“Love you,”

Jaemin laughs, and Jeno makes a mental note to make tonight’s date the best one Jaemin has ever been on. Because Jaemin deserves everything nice in the world, but he can start off like this, at least. 

“I love you too.” 

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


Unfortunately for Jeno, winter break is closer than he expected, and now he’s standing outside of Renjun’s car with the wind slapping him in the face, his ears numb, and fingers frozen, saying goodbye to Jaemin for the next three weeks. 

“Don't go,” Jeno frowns, and his tone lets off that he’s half joking, half serious. 

Jaemin rolls his eyes, but he’s fond and at least his wool mittens feel soft against Jeno’s cheek when he caresses it softly.

“Don’t be dramatic. You can live.”

“No,” Jeno pouts, and Jaemin kind of wants to kiss his nose. But it’d be hard, with all the scarves and bulky jackets in the way. “I can’t.” 

Jaemin sighs, but he still manages to wrap his arms around Jeno’s body, which has gained a lot of width because of all the thick clothes he’s wearing underneath. 

“I’m gonna miss you,” Jaemin mumbles, and it’s a bit hard to hear over the whistling of the wind, but Jeno is able to make it out just fine. “That sounds so stupid to say—”

“It’s not,” Jeno cuts in, because he always does whenever Jaemin thinks things like this, even if it was in the smallest amount. “I’ll miss you more.”

“I know you will,” Jaemin huffs, squeezing Jeno tighter and trying to soak up as much of his warmth as he can, because he knows the few hoodies and t-shirts won’t be enough for three weeks without him. “You always do.” 

“Renjun’s pretending to throw up,” Jeno whispers in his ear, and Jaemin laughs. 

“It’s okay,” Jaemin smiles, and he looks over Jeno’s shoulder just to see Mark making weird faces at them too. “Mark is doing the same thing.”

“I think we need new friends,” Jeno snorts. and Jaemin almost pulls him back when he lets go. “I’m getting sick of them.”

“ _ We’re  _ getting sick of  _ you. _ Now can you hurry up? We should get home before the sun sets,” Donghyuck yells at them, rolling his eyes but getting into Jeno’s car right after that. 

Jeno was going to drive Mark and Donghyuck home with him, and Renjun was going to bring Jaemin home, obviously. 

“Okay, let’s stop being dramatic,” Jaemin sighs, taking a step back from Jeno and smiling at him brightly, just to make sure Jeno doesn’t feel sad. “I’ll see you soon. Really soon. Because I’m gonna make you facetime me when you wake up tomorrow, okay?” 

Jeno laughs out loud at that, but he nods his head nonetheless and smiles back.

“Okay. It’ll be the first thing I do. Promise,” he agrees, and he holds his pinky out for Jaemin, who intertwines it with his thumb since his pinky was inside of his mittens. “I love you.” 

Jaemin beams. 

“I love you too. Now go, before Donghyuck loses his head.” 

So Jeno does just that, waving goodbye to Jaemin once more before finally turning his back to him and getting into the driver’s side of his own car. Jaemin watches them go from where he’s remained standing, and Renjun watches from his own car. 

The two of them only get into the car after Jeno’s is out of sight. 

“Ready to go?” Renjun asks after the heating has travelled through the car and warmed up the entire space. “It’s just an hour and a half, less if there’s no traffic,” he says, straightening up in his seat and grabbing the wheel. “Did you forget anything?”

Jaemin does a quick mental check, and once he’s sure he’s packed everything, he gives Renjun the go, and the latter starts driving. 

It’s only ten minutes into the drive, and they were having a good conversation, but Renjun seems to notice something Jaemin himself doesn’t even notice. 

“You’re nervous,” Renjun sighs, cutting right into something Jaemin was saying. Maybe he’d be more mad about it if he wasn’t stunned by the way Renjun had said that so confidently, completely correct and without any context. 

“What?”

Renjun rolls his eyes, always finding a way to sass Jaemin, even if he was driving. Years of friendship with Renjun let’s Jaemin know that Renjun stops at nothing when it comes to him, no matter what. It was both endearing and infuriating. 

“You’re nervous about not seeing Jeno for this long,” he iterates, hitting the nail right on the head and rendering Jaemin completely speechless. Just  _ how  _ does Renjun do it? Probably best friend telepathy something along those lines. 

“Well,” Jaemin finally starts after finding his voice, looking out the windshield so that he didn’t have to look at how smug Renjun looks at always being correct. It was a look Jaemin was slowly getting tired of, but not really. “Aren't you? Nervous about not seeing Donghyuck for three weeks?” 

Renjun sighs, and Jaemin thinks he said something wrong for all of two seconds before Renjun says, in true Huang Renjun fashion,

“Who cares about Donghyuck?  _ He’s  _ the one who’ll be suffering without me, not the other way around. Don’t get it twisted.” 

Jaemin would be baffled at Renjun’s ability to talk about his very own boyfriend that way, but then he guesses he really doesn’t expect anything else from him. If it was any different he’d probably be concerned. 

Renjun relents though, like he normally does whenever they’re talking about something serious, and like how he normally does whenever they’re talking  _ Donghyuck _ . 

Because Renjun could say whatever he wanted, but when he held someone close to his heart, he didn’t really want anyone to get the wrong idea.

“We’re actually not too worried,” Renjun says easily, and Jaemin isn’t sure if it’s to put  _ him  _ at ease, or if they’ve genuinely had a serious conversation about this and have come to this conclusion. “It’s not like we’re gonna stop talking to each other all together, we just won’t be able to see each other in person for three weeks.”

And Jaemin already knows that, he’s not gonna start ignoring Jeno or something, but they’re both very big on being physically with each other. 

Jaemin doesn’t go a day without leeching himself onto Jeno like a parasite, and he thought Jeno would get annoyed by it very quickly, but Jeno doesn’t go a day without gluing himself to Jaemin’s side either. 

They match like that, and while it is comforting, it also means it’s  _ excruciating  _ to not be able to touch Jeno’s skin for so long, or run his fingers through his hair, or kiss his cheeks. 

And he doesn’t know if he’s just being dramatic, or if it’s something that will genuinely bother him. The only way to find out is making it through the holidays. and seeing what happens. 

“Also, Donghyuck sleeps a lot, so I doubt he’d even have time to miss me when he’s awake,” Renjun snorts, and it makes Jaemin smile too. Jeno doesn’t sleep a lot, but he does understand what Renjun means. “Anyways, it’ll be okay, you know it will. It’ll be different, sure, but your relationship is serious and growing, so you need to adapt to different scenarios. Realistically, you’re not going to be together all day, everyday.” 

Renjun always sounds so eloquent when he speaks nowadays, and Jaemin has no doubt that it comes from Donghyuck. Jeno and Mark always go on about how Donghyuck has always had the brain in their group, even more so now that he’s grown up, twisting his words to make them sound beautiful to everyone, and using his brain in ways that makes others feel inferior. 

But it was never on purpose. Donghyuck was just… unique like that. No wonder he matches with Renjun, Renjun was also drawn to people who seemed extraterrestrial. 

“You’re right,” Jaemin sighs, relaxing a little now that Renjun has cleared his mind up. He was too busy in his own head when he was alone with his thoughts, but with Renjun, he understands more clearly. 

“I’m always right,” Renjun hums, and Jaemin only rolls his eyes and turns up the volume on the radio, drowning out Renjun’s laughter, but not before a smile tugs at his own lips.    
  


Coming back to Renjun’s home (to which all the Huangs correct that it’s also  _ his  _ home, Jaemin cries whenever they do that) feels like finally being able to fully relax.

Renjun’s parents have already strung up the lights and decorations along the outside and inside of the house, and the heating is blasting, warming the floors and the cold tiles of the kitchen when they enter. 

The house looks like it always does during the holidays, and the familiarity is comforting. 

Renjun’s parents let them go to get settled in before dinner, but not before giving them both hugs that squeeze the air out of them. 

And Jaemin loves it. 

“Just be warned,” Renjun mutters as they make their way up the stairs, carrying their bags with them. Once they reach the top, Renjun pauses right outside of their bedroom doors, Jaemin on the left, Renjun on the right. “They’re gonna hammer you for information about Jeno.” 

Jaemin pales only a bit, because he realizes at this very moment, that he’s  _ never _ done…  _ this  _ before. He’s never brought anyone home— he never even had a home in the first place. 

But now it feels like everything is set, because he has a home, he’s had one for a while, but he’s never had someone. But now he has someone, and a home, and Jaemin is just a bit overwhelmed with how different his life is from what he thought it’d be. 

It’s not everyday, you think that everything would be okay after thinking you were stuck at rock bottom. 

And as always, Renjun is able to pick up on his nerves, like he’s attuned to all of Jaemin’s little signals by now. He probably is, honestly. 

“Don’t sweat, they’re gonna hammer me too,” he grins, and Jaemin feels a bit better knowing that they were in this together. 

It seems like it’s always like that. Renjun and Jaemin are always in things together. It’s comforting. 

They put their things into their respective rooms before quickly washing up and going back downstairs, and Jaemin helps with the few last minute things in the kitchen while Renjun finishes setting the table. 

Food is served quickly after that, and the meal is delicious and entertaining. They talk a lot, catching up completely before Renjun’s parents wring them dry for information about their respective significant others. 

Rather than feeling like he’s been out on the spot, Jaemin feels like he’s introducing someone to his family for the first time, despite Jeno not physically being there with them. 

He doesn’t need to though, because Renjun’s dad teases him about still having stars in his eyes, to which Renjun gags and Jaemin blushes. 

After dinner, he realizes that he can’t wait to actually bring Jeno home with him. 

Unfortunately, Renjun’s parents have to attend a dinner party tonight, but Jaemin is just glad they had time to eat together before they had to go. 

Renjun and Jaemin let them know that they’re just gonna stay home tonight, and then wish them to have a good night before they leave out the door. Renjun immediately goes to the wine cellar, and Jaemin isn’t surprised, but he’s excited. 

“You're ridiculous,” Jaemin scoffs, but Renjun only shrugs, picks out two wine glasses, and then cocks his head towards the stairs. 

“Wanna have a sleepover?” 

Jaemin grins and he nods, and the both of them make their way up to Jaemin’s bedroom. They change into comfier clothes, before Renjun pops the bottle of wine open and pours them two glasses full. 

They drink just like that, until their veins buzz lightly, and until they both feels like the weight of the world has been lifted off of their shoulders. 

“What’s that?” Renjun asks slowly after an hour or so has passed by, lazily pointing to something poking out of Jaemin’s bag. 

Jaemin looks over, and mentally curses himself for being to reckless when he had taken clothes out to change into, and his drunken hands scramble to push the little baggy further into his bag, hidden from their eyes. 

“Weed,” he answers bluntly, and Renjun just grins, and then he laughs, and Jaemin isn’t too sure if it’s the alcohol or not. 

“Jeno’s been such a bad influence on you,” he says brightly sitting up far too fast from his laid down position, and he clutches his head until the world stops spinning. But then, he rummages through Jaemin’s bag himself, taking the little baggy out. “Did he give it to you?” 

Jaemin nods, too shocked to say anything as he watches Renjun reach into his pocket to take a lighter out. 

“You— you have a lighter? Since when?” he asks, watching as Renjun searches the room quickly for something to wrap with. 

“Who do you think gives Jeno all of his weed?” he asks, and now that he’s mentioned it, Jaemin realizes that he’s never thought about it. “I’ll tell you— it’s Donghyuck.” 

Jaemin isn’t surprised, so he just hums and reluctantly goes to open the window so that they don’t end up stinking up the whole top floor of the house. 

“C’mon Jaemin,” Renjun grins, patting the spot next to him when he’s done rolling them joints. “Tell me embarrassing stories about Jeno. I’ll trade you stuff about Donghyuck in return.” 

And realistically, wine drunk and the joints Renjun rolled tempting, how was he supposed to resist the open offer for dirt on Donghyuck? 

On this chilly evening, Renjun and Jaemin spend their night warm and giggly. 

  
  
  


__—__—__—

  
  
  


“I liked the sweater the best,” Jaemin comments, looking at his phone from a distance that was very clearly much too close to be considered healthy. But he’s too lazy to bring his laptop upstairs, so this will have to do. 

“Just because you said that, I know you won’t even be letting me wear it,” Jeno scoffs, neatly folding the article of clothing before putting it away off to the side. “Just like all of my other sweaters.”

“Well you signed up for it,” Jaemin grins, watching through the screen as Jeno fondly rolls his eyes. “My turn?”

“Yeah,” Jeno hums, setting himself up so that he was watching Jaemin, putting all of his attention on him. “Show me your presents.” 

So Jaemin does that just that, going through all the presents that he and Renjun’s family had opened two days ago. He didn’t have time to talk to Jeno until today, but he intends to spend the entire day catching up. 

But he doesn’t focus on that for now, instead focusing on showing Jeno what he got. 

It doesn’t take too long, and it takes a shorter time than Jeno. Jeno had gotten presents from a lot of the friends he has back home, but Jaemin didn’t really have those… but it didn’t matter to him anyways. 

“Oh, and Mark gave me this before we left,” Jaemin suddenly remembers, grabbing something off screen. “He told me not to open it until Christmas. It was tempting, but I didn’t open it until Christmas.” 

Jaemin pulls out the present Mark had wrapped prettily in a nice box, showing it off to Jeno with a bright smile. 

“Isn’t it cute? I love it so much,” he says happily, looking around the item he’s holding up to gage Jeno’s reaction. 

But what he sees instead is Jeno’s mouth hanging wide open, gaping. 

“ _ Mark  _ got you  _ that _ ?” Jeno asks incredulously, and confused, Jaemin nods. “Are you kidding me? Hey, Mark!” Jeno suddenly yells, and it startles Jaemin. 

But it all makes sense when Jaemin can hear the click of a door opening on Jeno’s end of the line, and Mark’s familiar voice irritatedly asking,

“What the fuck do you want? I was  _ just  _ about to beat Donghyuck in Crazy 8’s!”

“You're with Donghyuck and Mark?” Jaemin asks, the same time that Jeno glares at Mark and says, “Can you stop buying my boyfriend sexy clothes? That gets the wrong message across man. Not to mention it’s weird because you’re my ex!” 

“Oh? Jaemin is here?” Mark asks, completely ignoring what Jeno had said and coming closer to look at the screen himself. When Mark spots him, he breaks out into a smile and waves his tiny hand. “Hi Nana! Merry Christmas!”

“Hi,” Jaemin waves back. “Merry Christmas to you too!”

“Oh, am I interrupting something?” Jeno scoffs, looking between the two of them, watching as they simultaneously roll their eyes. “You two are the worst.”

“You love me,” they both chorus, and they both up laughing when they sees mortification wash over Jeno’s face. 

“You guys are becoming too alike, stop hanging out,” he mutters, angling his phone away from Mark so that he wasn’t in frame anymore. “And stop buying Jaemin skirts like that! It’s weird coming from you because you  _ know  _ what’s gonna happen!” Jeno chastises again, and this time, Jaemin hears Mark reply. 

“I don’t know what you’re gonna do,” Mark says innocently, thought they all know he knows  _ very well.  _ “Get your head out of the gutter Lee, it’s just a pretty skirt.” 

“I hate you,” Jeno spits, and Jaemin can hear Mark cackling before he startles, once more, at his own bedroom door opening. 

“Hey,” Renjun starts, looking down at his phone as his thumbs move quickly across the keyboard. “Dad wanted to know if you— oh, is that Mark and Jeno?” 

Renjun joins Jaemin on the latter’s bed when Jaemin nods his head, greeting the other two. When Jeno grumbles his ‘hello’, Renjun doesn’t even bat an eye. 

“Is Donghyuck with you guys?” Renjun asks, and Jaemin is about to say that he is, but Jeno's door opens again. Except this time, it bursts open, and it grabs all of their attention. 

“Hey, Mark Lee, we’re not done!” he explains, and he comes into frame while pointing a finger at Mark. “I’m going to annihilate your fucking sorry as— oh, hi Renjun!” 

Donghyuck’s tone goes from pure aggression to fondness so quick, that it takes Jaemin a few seconds to process it. When he has though, he finds that Donghyuck has queezes himself next to Jeno, leaning onto his shoulder so that the three of them could be in frame. 

“Hi Jaemin,” Donghyuck smiles, and Jaemin smiles back, waving. “And Injunnie~ I miss you so much, you don’t even answer my texts,” Donghyuck pouts, using his cute voice of his that puts everyone’s nerves on edge.

“I will not be indulging in your shower thoughts,” Renjun scoffs, rolling his eyes before glaring at Donghyuck. “And maybe, if you texted me things that weren’t just pictures of your dick, we could have a conversation.”

Jaemin can see Mark and Jeno wince when they hear this, but Donghyuck isn’t phased. If anything, he looks rather smug. It makes Jaemin hold back a laugh. 

“Can we please change the subject?” Jeno asks, and he sounds pained as he does. Mark is nosing vigorously in agreement, and all Donghyuck does is roll his eyes. 

“Yeah,” Renjun hums, turning to Jaemin. “I had to ask you something anyways, and since they’re all here it’s even better.”

Jaemin raises a confused eyebrow, but waits for Renjun to continue. 

“Dad was asking if you wanted to invite Jeno over for New Years, since he said I could invite Donghyuck over too if I wanted,” he explains, and Jaemin’s eyebrows shoot up into his hairline.

“Jeno— seriously?” he asks, just to make sure, and Renjun just nods. Immediately, Jaemin’s head turns back to look at Jeno on the phone screen. “Do you want to? Do you want to spend New Years with me?” 

Jeno already didn’t have any plans for that night, but even if he did, he feels like he would’ve cancelled them for the way Jaemin’s eyes sparkle as he asks. 

“Of course I want to,” Jeno smiles back, and the brilliant grin he gets in return renders him breathless. “I’ll be there.”

“And I will too!” Donghyuck chirps up, only for Renjun to silence him with a single arched eyebrow. 

“Did I invite you?” Renjun asks, and Donghyuck just sits there, mouth opening and closing like a fish who doesn’t know what to say. “Mark, do you wanna come too? You’re invited.”

Jaemin doesn’t know if it’s to spite Donghyuck, or if he’s just answering the question, but Mark nods his head happily. 

“But you said your dad—” Donghyuck splutters, only to get cut off by Renjun again. 

“ _ If  _ I wanted to. Do I really want to?”

“I’m your boyfriend,” Donghyuck whines, and Jaemin can see Jeno trying to hold a laugh back. “Don’t be rude,” he grumbles, and even if Renjun tries to hide it, Jaemin can see him fight back a smile. 

“You are until my parents approve,” he says smugly, to which Donghyuck whines again. 

But Jaemin knows it’s all in good nature, which is why he laughs along with Renjun, New Years in the back of his mind. 

For the first time, Jaemin has a home. 

For the first time, Jaemin has a someone. 

And for the first time, Jaemin gets to bring his someone home. 

So honestly, what more could he ask for? 


End file.
